Comparisons of the biological activities of diosgenyl (DIO) beta-D-xylopyranosyl- (1 --> 2)-alpha-D-glucopyranoside (2DXalpha) and beta-D-glucopyranosyl- (1 --> 3)-)-beta-D-glueopyranoside (3GLbeta) or methyl glycyrrhetinate (GAM) 2DXalpha and 3GLbeta with those of the other DIO- or GAM- glycosides confirmed our assumption that both haemolytic and antifungal activities of DIO-glycosides (steroid saponins) generally parallel each other, while almost all haemolytic GAM-glycosides (triterpenoid saponins) have no antifungal activity. By comparisons of digitoxigenyl (DIG) 2DXalpha, beta-D-xylopyranosyl- (1 --> 2)-beta-D-glucopyranoside (2DXbeta) and 3GLbeta with the other DIG-glycosides, the previous supposition on DIG-diglycosides (cardiac diglycosides) has been developed into the assumption that those having a (1 --> 4), (1 --> 3) or (1 --> 2)p sugar linkage show stronger anti-ATPase and antiviral activities than those with a (1 --> 6) or (1 --> 2)alpha linkage. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.