Reinnervation studies of the diaphragm led us to reinvestigate the normal anatomy of the phrenic nerve of the rat. The phrenic nerve originates from the cervical nerve roots C4 and C5. In 16 out of 19 normal rats an accessory phrenic nerve was observed receiving its segmental fibres from C6. The number of myelinated axons of the accessory phrenic nerve varied from 41 to 101 (mean: 64.3, i.e. about 15% of the average number of axons in the common phrenic nerve). The accessory phrenic nerve innervates the dorsal part of the costal and the lateral part of the crural region, whereas the remaining parts of the hemidiaphragm are supplied by the segments C4 and C5. There is no evidence for any additional contribution to the motor innervation of the diaphragm from intercostal nerves.