Differential staining of rat-like hamster chromosomes revealed: 1) C- and G-banding of chromosomes depending upon the Giemsa solvent (distilled H2O and phosphate buffer correspondingly) in case of ordinary staining; 2) dependence of C-banding pattern on the C-method; 3) different resistance of C-bands to trypsin action; 4) dependence of Q-bands on the fluorochroms employed (A, 33258 H, AO), the second non-fluorescent (A, 33258 H) near-centrometric heterochromatic region is brilliantly fluorescing when AO is employed; 5) heterogeneity of C-, G- and Q-bands, i.e. similarly stained region, may differ in their structural-functional peculiarities.