SUMMARYNon-specific and specific mechanisms of adherence have been examined in two collections of methicillin–resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA). Determination of hydrophobicity by salt aggregation, hydrophobicity indices and of adherence to the extra–cellular matrix proteins fibronectin, vitronectin, laminin and collagen type 1 have failed to reveal any correlation with phage-type, plasmid profile or antibiogram. Further, the strain collections, made over a period of years in two countries, differ markedly in their adherence characteristics; MRSA are heterogeneous in this respect. Such heterogeneity may explain the polarization of views on the epidemicity or ‘virulence’ of MRSA. With the exception of adherence to collagen a small group of methicillin sensitiveS. aureushad characteristics intermediate between the two groups of MRSA.