A recent paper reported very exciting results; the production and detection of C/sub n/La complexes, n = 44, 46, 48,...76, with n = 60 the dominant species. For the dominant C/sub n/La species, C/sub 60/La, the metal atom was postulated, on the basis of the experimental photoionization mass spectroscopy data, to be strongly bound within a spheroidal carbon shell possessing unusually high stability. In this paper we present further experimental evidence which when added to the information presented by HOZLCKTS and Kroto et al. (KHOCS) seriously challenges this enticing conclusion.