Autolysis of the cells of Str. cremoris and L. helveticus, both of which were harvested from the liquid culture after 48 hr cultivation, were investigated by shaking these cells suspended in M/15 phosphate buffer, under starvation condition, pH 7.0, at 35°C for 10 days. Both amounts of nitrogen and DNA substance released from the cells of Str. cremoris were about 20%o after 3 days incubation but the amounts of the nitrogen and DNA substance released from the cells of L. helveticus were about 20% and 60%, respectively, after 3 days incubation. Those values obtained from two kinds of bacteria became almost constant after 10 days incubation.
Proteolytic activities in supernatants prepared from these two cell suspensions were detected after 3 days incubation and the maximum activities were attained after 6 days incubation.
The activities of lactic dehydrogenase released from Str. cremoris and L. helveticus during cultivation in skim milk were detected even after one day cultivation.
These indicate that autolysis of both kinds of lactic acid bacteria occurred only after one day cultivation in milk even under condition rich in nutrients, and intracellular protease, which could hydrolyze milk protein, α_s casein, was released.

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