The question of the origin of the cosmic radiation (CR) is a continuing one. The idea that the shocks from supernova remnants (SNR) expanding into the interstellar medium (ISM) accelerate CR is still a popular one but a number of authors have drawn attention to the fact that the experimental evidence for the presence of gamma rays from the expected interaction of CR with gas in the remnant is poor. Indeed, it is claimed that many SNR are not 'seen' in GeV or TeV gamma rays, whereas 'they should have been'.

We have looked at this problem and we conclude that the idea of CR production in SNR cannot be faulted in this way, if the evacuation of ambient gas by the stellar wind of the progenitor star and, frequently, by associated earlier close-by SN, is taken into account; such phenomena are expected for the important type II SN which result from very massive stars and which provide the SNR which are thought to accelerate CR.

Other SNR have, apparently, been seen and the interaction of SNR-accelerated particles with adjacent molecular clouds has been deemed responsible. However, we worry about this interpretation because of the slow progress of the SNR shock through such clouds, although electron-effects may, indeed, contribute.

This paper is devoted mainly to the visibility of nearby (within about1 kpc) SNR in gamma rays although many of the arguments also relate to remote SNR. For the nearby SNR another problem enters the scene: the large angular spread of the remnant. It is especially important for the old SNR, where cosmic rays have already diffused to a large distance from the SNR centre. We have also examined the effect of the 'anomalous diffusion' of CR propagation in the non-homogeneous interstellar medium on the visibility of SNR for gamma rays of different energies.