We give a necessary and sufficient condition on an operator A for the
existence of an operator B in the nest algebra AlgN of a continuous ne
st N satisfying AA = BB* (reap. A* A = B* B). We also characterise th
e operators A in B(H) which have the following property: For every con
tinuous nest N there exists an operator B-N in AlgN satisfying AA = B
NBN (resp. A* A = B-N*B-N).