diff --git a/R/neuron-plot.R b/R/neuron-plot.R
index 9054f94c..2719928a 100644
--- a/R/neuron-plot.R
+++ b/R/neuron-plot.R
@@ -14,8 +14,9 @@
 #' @param add Whether to add the neuron to existing rgl plot rather than 
 #'   clearing the scene (default TRUE)
 #' @param col Colour specification (see rgl materials)
-#' @param soma Whether to plot a sphere at neuron's origin representing the
-#'   soma. Either a logical value or a numeric indicating the radius.
+#' @param soma Whether to plot a sphere at neuron's origin representing the 
+#'   soma. Either a logical value or a numeric indicating the radius (default 
+#'   \code{FALSE}). When \code{soma=TRUE} the radius is hard coded to 2.
 #' @param ... Additional arguments passed to rgl::lines3d
 #' @return list of rgl plotting ids (invisibly) separated into 
 #'   \code{lines,points,texts} according to plot element. See 
diff --git a/R/neuronlist.R b/R/neuronlist.R
index f4784a72..95437ab8 100644
--- a/R/neuronlist.R
+++ b/R/neuronlist.R
@@ -179,6 +179,13 @@ nmapply<-function(FUN, ..., MoreArgs = NULL, SIMPLIFY = FALSE, USE.NAMES = TRUE)
 #'   but remains \code{TRUE} by default when plotting single neurons with 
 #'   \code{\link{plot3d.neuron}}. This is because the nodes quickly make plots 
 #'   with multiple neurons rather busy.
+#'   
+#'   When \code{soma} is \code{TRUE} or a vector of numeric values (recycled as 
+#'   appropriate), the values are used to plot cell bodies. For neurons the 
+#'   values are passed to \code{plot3d.neuron} for neurons. In contrast 
+#'   \code{dotprops} objects still need special handling. There must be columns 
+#'   called \code{X,Y,Z} in the data.frame attached to \code{x}, that are then
+#'   used directly by code in \code{plot3d.neuronlist}.
 #' @param x a neuron list or, for \code{plot3d.character}, a character vector of
 #'   neuron names. The default neuronlist used by plot3d.character can be set by
 #'   using \code{options(nat.default.neuronlist='mylist')}. See 
@@ -197,6 +204,7 @@ nmapply<-function(FUN, ..., MoreArgs = NULL, SIMPLIFY = FALSE, USE.NAMES = TRUE)
 #' @param SUBSTITUTE Whether to \code{substitute} the expressions passed as 
 #'   arguments \code{subset} and \code{col}. Default: \code{TRUE}. For expert 
 #'   use only, when calling from another function.
+#' @inheritParams plot3d.neuron
 #' @return list of values of \code{plot3d} with subsetted dataframe as attribute
 #'   \code{'df'}
 #' @export
@@ -217,7 +225,8 @@ nmapply<-function(FUN, ..., MoreArgs = NULL, SIMPLIFY = FALSE, USE.NAMES = TRUE)
 #' plot3d(jkn,col=sex,colpal=c(male='green',female='magenta'))
 #' plot3d(jkn,col=cut(cVA2,20),colpal=jet.colors)
 #' }
-plot3d.neuronlist<-function(x,subset,col=NULL,colpal=rainbow,skipRedraw=200,WithNodes=FALSE,..., SUBSTITUTE=TRUE){
+plot3d.neuronlist<-function(x, subset, col=NULL, colpal=rainbow, skipRedraw=200,
+                            WithNodes=FALSE, soma=FALSE, ..., SUBSTITUTE=TRUE){
   # Handle Subset
   if(!missing(subset)){
     # handle the subset expression - we still need to evaluate right away to
@@ -241,12 +250,16 @@ plot3d.neuronlist<-function(x,subset,col=NULL,colpal=rainbow,skipRedraw=200,With
     on.exit(par3d(op))
   }
   
-  rval=mapply(plot3d,x,col=cols,...,MoreArgs = list(WithNodes=WithNodes))
+  rval=mapply(plot3d,x,col=cols,soma=soma,...,MoreArgs = list(WithNodes=WithNodes))
   df=attr(x,'df')
   if(is.null(df)) {
     keys=names(x)
     if(is.null(keys)) keys=seq_along(x)
     df=data.frame(key=keys,stringsAsFactors=FALSE)
+  } else if( (length(soma)>1 || soma) && isTRUE(is.dotprops(x[[1]])) &&
+               all(c("X","Y","Z") %in% colnames(df))){
+    if(is.logical(soma)) soma=2
+    rval <- c(rval, spheres3d(df[, c("X", "Y", "Z")], radius = soma, col = cols))
   }
   df$col=cols
   attr(rval,'df')=df
diff --git a/man/plot3d.neuron.Rd b/man/plot3d.neuron.Rd
index d6f22391..9f822d71 100644
--- a/man/plot3d.neuron.Rd
+++ b/man/plot3d.neuron.Rd
@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@
 
   \item{soma}{Whether to plot a sphere at neuron's origin
   representing the soma. Either a logical value or a
-  numeric indicating the radius.}
+  numeric indicating the radius (default \code{FALSE}).
+  When \code{soma=TRUE} the radius is hard coded to 2.}
 
   \item{...}{Additional arguments passed to rgl::lines3d}
 }
diff --git a/man/plot3d.neuronlist.Rd b/man/plot3d.neuronlist.Rd
index cad55f1d..2611a6be 100644
--- a/man/plot3d.neuronlist.Rd
+++ b/man/plot3d.neuronlist.Rd
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@
 expression}
 \usage{
 \method{plot3d}{neuronlist}(x, subset, col = NULL, colpal = rainbow,
-  skipRedraw = 200, WithNodes = FALSE, ..., SUBSTITUTE = TRUE)
+  skipRedraw = 200, WithNodes = FALSE, soma = FALSE, ...,
+  SUBSTITUTE = TRUE)
 
 \method{plot3d}{character}(x, db, ...)
 }
@@ -48,6 +49,11 @@ expression}
   \item{db}{A neuronlist to use as the source of objects to
   plot. If missing, defaults to neuronlist specified by
   options('nat.default.neuronlist')}
+
+  \item{soma}{Whether to plot a sphere at neuron's origin
+  representing the soma. Either a logical value or a
+  numeric indicating the radius (default \code{FALSE}).
+  When \code{soma=TRUE} the radius is hard coded to 2.}
 }
 \value{
 list of values of \code{plot3d} with subsetted dataframe as
@@ -75,6 +81,15 @@ when plotting single neurons with
 \code{\link{plot3d.neuron}}. This is because the nodes
 quickly make plots with multiple neurons rather busy.
 
+When \code{soma} is \code{TRUE} or a vector of numeric
+values (recycled as appropriate), the values are used to
+plot cell bodies. For neurons the values are passed to
+\code{plot3d.neuron} for neurons. In contrast
+\code{dotprops} objects still need special handling. There
+must be columns called \code{X,Y,Z} in the data.frame
+attached to \code{x}, that are then used directly by code
+in \code{plot3d.neuronlist}.
+
 plot3d.character will check if
 options('nat.default.neuronlist') has been set and then use
 x as an identifier to find a neuron in that neuronlist.