For many years, Hoyle, Wickramasinghe and their associates have examined interstellar (IS) absorption features in the ultraviolet, visible and infrared and ‘identified’ them with a variety of organic structures or organisms. Among these there have been generalized, pre-biotic molecules1, polyoxymethylene whiskers2, polysaccharides and hydrocarbons3,4, tryptophan (and inferentially proteins)5—all claimed to be coatings on IS grains. In other cases, the grains1,6 have been described as 10–100% alkanes, alkenes, alkynes or aromatics by mass. In extensions of these claims, the grains are supposed to be microorganisms (such as viruses and bacteria7, algae8, siliceous cells similar to diatoms9, yeasts10 or other eukaryotic cells11) in whole or in part. Finally, a case has been advanced for possible interstellar and interplanetary insects11. The ‘identifications’ in these and many other publications call into question the intrinsic origin of Earth life itself12,13 and the uniqueness and validity of darwinian evolution11. We now report on ultraviolet spectra of specimens of the types cited by these workers and compare our results with infrared and ultraviolet data published previously. We conclude that the identifications claimed by Hoyle, Wickramasinghe and their colleagues are unwarranted.