  We present high spatial resolution CCD surface photometry study in the
optical V, R and I filters of 15 HII galaxies from the Nordic Optical Telescope
and the Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope at Canary Islands. The colours of the
starburst continuum and of the underlying galaxy are measured. The distribution
of colours of the underlying galaxy in HII galaxies is similar to the colours
of other late type low surface brightness galaxies which suggests a close
kinship of these with the quiescent phases of HII galaxies. However, comparison
with recent evolutionary population synthesis models show that the
observational errors and the uncertainties in the models are still too large to
put strict constraints on their past star formation history.
