  We have studied the long term variability of LMC X-3 in optical lightcurves
spanning six years, in order to search for optical signatures which could
confirm/refute the suggestion that the `modulation' is the result of accretion
rate variability rather than accretion disc precession. We find that there is
no stable period in the optical lightcurves, that the optical and X-ray
lightcurves are correlated, with an X-ray lag and that there is no modulation
in the optical colours. We argue that these effects agree with the variable
mass accretion rate model proposed by Wilms et al. (2001).
