Markedly different scenarios have been proposed for the circulation of the Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) in the southern part of the western Mediterranean Sea. Discrepacies result from the fact that large temperature and salinity values, which characterize LIW, are encountered both in the vicinity of Sardinia and off Algeria. Thus it was assumed that the circulation of LIW was divided into two major branches, one northward along the Sardinian continental slope and the other across the Algerian basin. Being dissatisfied with such a branch image of the circulation, we have put forth hypotheses (Millot, 1985, 1987) which now appear to be suppported by the results of the M¿diprod 5 experiment conducted in June 1986. We propose a scheme for the circulation of LIW in the Algerian Basin wherein a gravity flow is constrained by the topography around Sardinia and is subjected to sporadic spreading toward the open basin due to erosion of this vein by mesoscale eddies. Therefore it seems admissible that no branch of LIW flows off the Algerian coast. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1987