It is well known that vortex rings are the dominant flow structures in the near field of a free jet, and this has led many researchers to believe that they also occur in a jet in cross flow (JICF). Previous studies have postulated that these vortex rings deform and fold as they convect downstream, which culminates in the formation of vortex loops at both the upstream and the lee-side of the jet column. In this paper, we take a fresh look at the vortical structures of JICF in water by releasing dye at strategic locations around the jet exit. The results show that there is no evidence of ring vortices in JICF, and the postulation that vortex loops are formed from the folding of the vortex rings does not reflect the actual flow behavior. The presence of a counter-rotating vortex pair (CVP) at the jet exit is found to inhibit the formation of the vortex rings. Instead, vortex loops are formed directly from the deformation of the cylindrical vortex sheet or jet column, without going through the vortex rings, in a process similar to the buoyant jet and wake structures studied by Perry and Lim [J. Fluid Mech. 88, 451 (1978)]. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.