Scanning electron microscopy was used to investigate the fine structure of the lingual dorsal epithelium in the anole lizard, Anolis carolinensis. The tongue of the present lizard was fleshy and the anterior quarter was swollen. The posterior one third was bifurcate, being interposed by a laryngeal inlet. On the anterior swollen region a mesh-like shallow groove was visible and flat prominences surrounded by grooves posteriorly changed into columnar papillae which stood up close together as far as the posterior one-third region and the deep crypts formed among them, and then more posteriorly then changed to a mesh-like pattern. In the bifurcate region many pores of the excretory ducts of the lingual glands were visible. At the tips of the papillae, flask-shaped cells projected out and many thick microridges covered their surfaces. The other lingual dorsal surfaces were completely covered with short microvilli or rosary-like microridges. In the crypts among the columnar papillae the free surfaces of the secretory cells were covered by many microvilli-like microprocesses. But on the surface of the secretory cells of the alveolar glands which were distributed in the bifurcate region of the tongue there were hemispherical protuberances and only a few microvilli on the cell margins.