Abstract. Algebraic data types and catamorphisms (folds) play a central role in functional programming as they allow programmers to define recursive data structures and operations on them uniformly by structural recursion. Likewise, in object-oriented (OO) programming, recursive hierarchies of object types with virtual methods play a central role for the same reason. There is a semantical correspondence between these two situations which we reveal and formalize categorically. To this end, we assume a coalgebraic model of OO programming with functional objects. The development may be helpful in deriving refactorings that turn sufficiently disciplined functional programs into OO programs of a designated shape and vice versa. Key words: expression lemma, expression problem, functional object, catamorphism, fold, the composite design pattern, program calculation, distributive law, free monad, cofree comonad. 1