Repair capacities of five mammalian cell strains were measured by colony-forming ability, HCR of UV-irradiated virus, UDS, pyrimidine dimer excision, and semi-conservative DNA replication. Colony-forming ability of UV-irradiated cells was high for human amnion FL cells and mouse L cells, slightly low for African green monkey CV-1 cells, and extremely low for xeroderma pigmentosum cells. HCR of UV-irradiated Herpes simplex virus was high in CV-1 cells, FL and normal human fibroblast cells, low in both XP and L cells. The amount of UDS was high in FL and normal human fibroblast cells, considerably low in CV-1 cells, and essentially no UDS was observed in XP cells. Rate of UDS after UV-irradiation was slower for CV-1 cells than FL and human fibroblast cells. Rate of the excision of thymine-containing dimers from the acid-insoluble fraction during post-irradiation incubation of the cells was rapid in FL and normal human cells and slow in CV-1 cells, and no excision took place in XP cells.Semi-conservative DNA synthesis was reduced after UV-irradiation in all cell lines, but subsequently recovered in FL, normal human and CV-1 cells. The onset of recovery was 4h after UV-irradiation for FL and normal human cells, but about 6h for CV-1 cells. The apparent intermediate repair capacity of CV-1 cells except for HCR may be related to the slow rate of excision repair. “Patch and cut” model is more favorable than “cut and patch” model to elucidate these results.