The memlist created by allocentry() contains mementry entries. mementrys are defined by a union statement, which allows one memory space to be defined in more than one way. If allocentry() returns a value with bit 31 clear, then all of the meu_addr positions in the returned memlist will contain valid memory addresses meeting the requirements you have provided. To use this memory area, you would use code similar to the following: #define ALLOCERROR 0x80000000 struct MemList *ml; APTR data, moredata; if ( ! ((ULONG)ml & ALLOCERROR))) /* After calling AllocEntry to */ /* allocate ml */ { data = ml->ml_ME[0].me_Addr; moredata = ml->ml_ME[1].me_Addr; } else exit(200); /* error during AllocEntry */ If allocentry() has problems while trying to allocate the memory you have requested, instead of the address of a new memlist, it will return the memory requirements value with which it had the problem. Bit 31 of the value returned will be set, and no memory will be allocated. Entries in the list that were already allocated will be freed. For example, a failed allocation of cleared Chip memory (memf_clear | memf_chip) could be indicated with 0x80010002, where bit 31 indicates failure, bit 16 is the MEMF_CLEAR flag and bit 1 is the MEMF_CHIP flag.