A 46,XX;47,XX,+9;47,XX,+?mar karyotype was detected in an amniotic fluid cell culture and confirmed in a subsequent fetal blood sample from a 40-year-old woman. After termination of the pregnancy, none of the 186 mitoses obtained from a second blood sample was trisomic for chromosome 9 (p less than 0.001). Selection against cells containing trisomy 9 is postulated to explain the disappearance of the lymphocyte clone.