36 
11. Cf. Pliny, Naturalis Historiae 9.12.35. In an 1832 issue of a Key West, Florida newspaper 
mention was made of a dealer seeking to buy 500 lbs. of loggerhead turtle shell, which for lack of 
any other known use for the shell, we speculate was to be used for arches. 
12. This reference cited by Catesby is Rochefort, C6sar de (Charles de) 1658. Histoire naturelle et 
morale des lies Antilles de l'Am6rique. Roterdam. Arnould Leers. In the copy we saw, the accent 
in I'Amdrique is over the "q", an obvious error. 
13. Reading "anterioribus" for the obvious typographical error "a terioribus”. 
14. Linnaeus frequently changes from "lacertus" to "lacerta" when speaking of the lizard. The 
terms here are treated as interchangeable. 
15. A confusion of Pliny, Historiae Naturalis. 8.36.88f, which first speaks of the ichneumon/mon¬ 
goose and then of the crocodile. 
16. This is reference to the book of Job in the Bible. Leviathan is a term which today is usually 
thought of as referring to a whale, but also something monstrous, actually a sea monster in biblical 
and other older writings. The verses in Job,although perhaps often referable to whales, also 
comment about teeth, scales, etc., things that would be applicable to a crocodilian. Most likely 
that would be the Nile crocodile, a known man eater well-known to early European travelers in 
Africa. Today we recognize Lacerta crocodilus as Caiman crocodilus of Middle and South 
America. 
17. This tale stems from Pliny, Historiae Naturalis 8.38.93, who ascribes this behavior to a 
diminutive race of men called the Tentyritae. 
18. Linnaeus’ s term "amboinensis" might be interpreted as referral to the Amboin Islands in 
Indonesia. In the present case, however, the reference is to the amboin tree of India and adjacent 
areas, hence in these trees (this lizard is now known as the agamid Lyriocephalus scutatus, 
endemic to Sri Lanka). 
19. This ambiguous statement about scales perhaps is due to the peculiar scale arrangement on 
this lizard. The body has large tubercular scales and small scales on the back, with the tubercular 
ones tending to form six rows. 
20. Today we know this to be the salamander, Triturus vulgaris. 
21. Delos is a Greek island. Of herpetological interest is that Apollo was bom there and a famous 
statue of him depicts him killing a lizard. Kitchell has visited the island and says that it literally 
swarms with lizards. 
22. Emending the printed, non-word, "inaebuale" to read "inaequale". 
23. Reading "quadratis” for the non-Latin "quadiatis." 
24. Subpentatdactyl means fewer than five toes, but meaning is not clear. He could be saying that 
some feet have fewer than five toes, or perhaps that some toes are decidedly shorter than others. 
