THE O H DISTRIBUTION IN THE TRANSITION MAGELLANIC GALAXY NGC-1313/

Multifibre emission-line spectrophotometry of 33 H II regions and thre e diffuse interstellar medium positions is presented for the barred Ma gellanic galaxy NGC 1313. The H II regions shown a fairly narrow range of thermal conditions characteristic of high-excitation nebular gas. Electron temperature was directly determined in four of the H II regio ns. The global O/H abundance distribution appears very flat across the disc at 12 + log O/H approximate to 8.4 +/- 0.1, the bar regions poss ibly having abundances higher by 0.2 dex than the outer disc. NGC 1313 is the highest mass barred galaxy known not to have any radial abunda nce gradient. The key role of the bar on the abundance distribution in disc galaxies is revised.