8 derivatives of the rodent liver carcinogen 4-dimethylaminoazobenzene (DAB), all of known carcinogenicity in rodents, have been evaluated in the 3 major variants of the Salmonella mutation assay; the standard plate test of Ames et al., the pre-incubation assay of Yahagi et al. and the fluctuation assay of Gatehouse. Although 4 of these chemicals were reported to be non-carcinogenic, and 4 to be of greater carcinogenic potency than DAB, each was mutagenic in a least 2 of the assays. Further, no quantitative correlation between carcinogenic and mutagenic potency was evident in any of the assay employed. The parent carcinogen DAB, 5-dimethylaminophenylazoindazole (a non-carcinogenic bacterial mutagen) and 6-dimethylaminophenylazobenzthiazole (a carcinogenic bacterial mutagen) were administered to rats via intraperitoneal injection, followed, 26 h later, by a sub-acute dose of [14C] dimethylnitrosamine. The histopathological condition of the livers of the treated animals was assessed together with a determination of the extent and nature of methylation by DMN of the DNA in the livers according to the method of O'Connor. Disturbances in both the pathological and DNA-related parameters were observed for the 2 carcinogens while control levels were seen for the non-carcinogen. Within this context the value of short-term assays conducted in vivo is discussed, especially their potential to identify potent mammalian carcinogens from among a collection of structurally related bacterial mutagens.