Experimental evidence is adduced to suggest that electrodeposited iron‐nickel alloys may contain &agr;‐phase regions in a &ggr;‐phase matrix. This observation is taken as evidence of large variations in composition on a scale of 1000 Å or less, and calculations are presented which show that it may be feasible to explain the observed uniaxial anisotropy in electrodeposited iron‐nickel alloys in terms of a magnetostrictive mechanism even though the average plating composition be that of a zerostrictive material.