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Contamination of cell cultures by mycoplasma can result in subtle or profound changes in cellular metabolism and function, and thereby produce serious experimental artifacts in studies of cellular biochemistry and physiology if the contamination remains undetected. Since many species of mycoplasmas do not cause overt cytopathic effects on the animal cells, and sometimes escape detection by the usual agar plate cultivation technique described by Hayflick (1), it is often difficult to state positively that a given cell culture is absolutely free of contaminating mycoplasmas. Particularly noteworthy in this regard are the “noncultivable” strains of Mycoplasma hyorhinis which cannot be cultured in the absence of animal cells they parasitize. These host-dependent, cryptic strains of mycoplasma have recently emerged as frequent contaminants in cell cultures.{See, for example, the contributions by Barile, DelGuidice and McGarrity in this volume.}