The morphology of atrioventricular (AV) junctions in the heart has been investigated using comparative anatomical analyses. For scanning electron microscopy, tissue blocks are treated with HCl to digest connective tissue elements. In fishes, amphibians and reptiles, there is a muscular system connecting the atrial muscle to the ventricular myocardium. These muscle fibers completely surround the inner surface of the atrioventricular ring and termed "ring muscular tissue", the cells of which are slender and small and vertically oriented. They contain small-sized mitochondria, relatively few myofibrils and variable amounts of glycogen. In mammalian hearts, the AV node and bundle system is the only functional myocardial connection between the atria and ventricles. Architecture and ultrastructure of AV nodal cells are similar to those of AV ring muscular tissue seen in the lower vertebrates. In human hearts, however, the muscle bundles which directly connect the atrium with the ventricle, i.e., accessory conduction pathways, are scarcely encountered. From the developmental- and comparative-anatomical points of view, it is likely that the accessory pathways in man are the remnants of the ring muscular tissue seen in lower vertebrates.