Sporulation-deficient mutants of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe were isolated from a homothallic strain mutagenized with ethyl methanesulfonate. Complementation tests defined two new genetic loci (spo19 and spo20) essential for ascospore formation, in addition to the 18 known spo loci (Bresch et al. 1968). A novel mapping procedure using random spore analysis prior to tetrad analysis allowed us to map 11 spo genes. Four genes (spo3, spo15, spo19 and spo20) were mapped on chromosome I, 6 genes (spo2, spo4, spo5, spo6, spo14 and spo18) on chromosome III and 1 gene (spo13) on chromosome III. Although there was no noticeable clustering of spo genes on the chromosomes, three pairs of linked genes (spo15-spo20, spo3-spo19 and spo2-spo18) were found.