The shear properties of highly deionized 111.6 +/- 2.8 nm diameter polystyrene spheres in water with volume fractions ranging from 0.246 to 0.419 were measured, All suspensions were iridescent at rest, indicating that they had a crystal-like mesostructure. The suspensions studied exhibited viscous-like and elastic-like stress components; the viscous-like component is explicit in shear rate and thus will instantaneously dissipate when shear is stopped, while the elastic-like component will gradually decay upon cessation. The components show changes in slope at a shear rate independent of volume fraction although their absolute magnitudes were dependent on volume fraction. The viscous-like component was dominant at high shear rates and it was concluded that the sliding layer microstructure was responsible for this behavior. At low shear rates the elastic-like component was larger in magnitude, The change in the relative magnitude of the components probably occurred from different microstructures produced during shear.