Enteric adenoviruses 40 and 41 (Ad40 and Ad41) are a prominent cause of gastroenteritis in young children. Diagnosis of these enteric types by conventional means is complicated by their fastidious growth characteristics. Enteric adenovirus growth was enhanced by cocultivation. Typing of enteric isolates currently entails analysis of the extracted viral DNA with restriction enzymes. Restriction endonuclease fragments of the Ad41 strain Tak genome were ordered by (i) double digestion, (ii) release of restriction fragments from plasmids containing 84% of the Ad41 genome in EcoRI fragments A, B and C, (iii) hybridization of Southern blotted Ad41 fragments with EcoRI fragment containing plasmids and various segments of the Ad2 genome, (iv) sequential reduction of the genome beginning with terminal restriction fragments with exonuclease III and S1 nuclease. The termini of adenovirus genomes are difficult to clone and the use of exonuclease III is a useful alternative to conventional restriction mapping. DNA restriction patterns, fragment sizes and restriction maps of the Ad4 1 strain Tak with enzymes BamHI, BglII, ClaI, EcoRI, HindIII, PstI, SalI, SmaI and XhoI are presented. Prototype strain restriction maps should enable better understanding of adenovirus type 41 and its epidemiology.