The phenomenon was observed during experiments in which a beaker containing water was vibrated in one of its bell modes (the inextensional flexural vibrations of the wall). For certain combinations of driving force and frequency, a standing water wave of large amplitude was generated whose peripheral wavenumber might be either zero (i.e. the wave was radially symmetric) or twice that of the bell mode. This relationship between the wavenumbers of the bell mode and water wave, and the fact that the driving frequency was many times that of the water wave, indicated that this was an instance of a general mechanism that has been studied theoretically by Mahony & Smith (1972). For a model situation, allowing for dissipative effects and nonlinear coupling between nearly resonant oscillations at greatly differing frequencies, they derived a relation-ship between the driving force and frequency representing conditions of neutrals tability (i.e. such that the rate of energy transfer from the high frequency to the low frequency oscillations is zero). The aim of the experimental observations reported here was to check this relationship and other predictions of their theory.