The authors described for the first time the appearance of an epidemic of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in the small village of Praia Vermelha, Ilha Grande (Creat Island), county of Angra dos Reis, State of Rio de Janeiro, situated at 17 Km from the continent. 453 persons were examined and 33 cases of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis were found of which 13 were cases of active iesions and 20 of scars. Of the 33 cases, 30 were issued from the area under examination. The disease has existed in Praia Vermelha for more than 10 years and in the Ilha Grande for more than 30 as sporadic cases. In Praia Vermelha between 1974 and 1976, an epidemic occured when 27 cases of the disease were registered. The Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Praia Vermelha has characteristics of home transmission affecting people without discrimination of sex, age or occupation. The ulcerated form appeared more frequently in the extremities of the body, with spontaneous cure of the lesion and no harm to the mucosa; one hamster in 10 inoculated with the material of the human lesion developped after four months a lesion in its muzzle with positive results for Cutaneous Leishmaniasis.