Propagation modes for electromagnetic waves in circular ferrite rods magnetized along the axis can be computed exactly by well‐known and straightforward procedures; however, three parameters must be specified to define a mode family in the normalized frequency vs axial wavenumber (&ohgr; — &bgr;) plane. The magnetostatic approximation requires but one parameter, the saturation magnetization normalized with respect to the dc magnetizing field, 4&pgr;M0/H0, and thus allows the whole range of solutions to be readily visualized and simply portrayed. The transition from the exact solution to the magnetostatic limit has not been previously studied and is the primary object of these investigations. At the same time it has been found helpful to classify the exact solutions and to suggest an appropriate terminology. Numerical computations have been made and compared with magnetostatic calculations and with other results.