Detailed measurements of pressure distributions, mean velocity profiles and Reynolds stresses were made in the thick, axisymmetric boundary layer and the near wake of a low-drag body of revolution. These measurements shed some light on the joint influence of transverse and longitudinal surface curvatures and pressure gradients on the boundary-layer development and on the manner in which an axisymmetric boundary layer becomes a fully-developed wake. The present data have been used to provide an independent check on the accuracy of the simple integral method proposed by Patel, and its extension to the calculation of the near wake made by Nakayama, Patel and Landweber. Calculations have also been performed using the differential equations of the thick axisymmetric turbulent boundary layer and a rate equation for the Reynolds stress derived from the turbulent kinetic-energy equation along the lines suggested by Bradshaw and others. It is shown that the boundary layer in the tail region of a body of revolution is dominated by the extra strain rates arising from longitudinal and transverse surface curvatures. A new differential method is incorporated into the iterative procedure developed by Nakayama, Patel and Landweber for the solution of the interaction between the boundary layer, the wake and the external inviscid flow. The results of the iterative method have been compared with the experimental data obtained from the present low-drag body and those obtained earlier on a modified spheroid to demonstrate agreement. (Author).