This paper is concerned with the oscillation problem of functional differential systems of the form x'(t) = Q(0)x(t) + integral(-r)(0) d eta(theta)x(t + theta), where Q(0) and eta(theta) are in R(nxn). Based on its characteristic equation, new explicit conditions for oscillation are obtained by utilizing the Lozinskii measures of matrices. (C) 1996 academic Press, Inc.