A multicylinder, stratified charge, internal combustion engine in which the main combustion chamber of each cylinder is coupled, through a conduit with controllable flow cross section, to the precombustion chamber of the cylinder which precedes it in the firing order of the engine. A flutter valve controls the flow of gases into each precombustion chamber. Part of the fuel injected just ahead of the main engine inlet valve in the induction tube of each cylinder is thereby drawn off and delivered to the precombustion chamber of the preceding cylinder in the firing order of the engine.