38 
39. "Striato" here can mean both striped and keeled, for both appearances apply to this species. 
40. Pipa is a Dutch term for a Carib indian group that lives in the Guianas. 
41. Linnaeus apparently mistakes the metatarsal spade for a digit. 
42. Rubeta is a Latin term for a kind of toad, and phryne is a Greek word for toad. 
43. Various plants. 
44. In many male anurans the base of the thumb of males is much larger than in females, and is 
used in gripping the female during amplexus. Anurans have no intromittent structure resembling 
a penis (except for a very few that have a taillike appendage), thus Linnaeus may have thought the 
sperms were conveyed via the thumbs which are the only parts of the male anatomy directly 
contacting the female. 
45. The numbering format that Linnaeus used for the snakes differs from that of the turtles, 
lizards, frogs, and toads. The number given before the species name represents the total of the 
ventral and subcaudal scutes added together, and the next set of numbers represents the ventral 
and subcaudal counts separately. But the reader may notice that sometimes the v + sc count 
does not equal the total first given: that is because when total counts are the same (e.g., on p. 
217 for buccatus and angulatus, Linnaeus added one to the second species listed. Linnaeus's 
counts often were erroneus, thus readers are advised to seek more information from other 
sources, a very important one of which is Andersson (1899. Bihang till K. Svenska Vet.-Akad. 
Handlingar. Band 24 Afd. IV. No. 6:1-35). 
46. A footnote on page 221 calls attention to the male symbol, which in this case is used to 
denote presence "of a retractable, venomous weapon." In light of modern knowledge Linnaeus 
erred in ascribing venomous properties to some snakes, but also failed to note that some, e.g., 
Couber haje=Naja haje , are venomous. But, of course, the herpetological world is discovering 
that some snake species that have been presumed to be harmless are in fact capable of delivering 
a poisonous bite. 
47 The Latin could be better; even in the translation of the 13th edition the rendition could be 
improved. What Linnaeus is trying to say is that the dark rhomboidal spots are fringed with small 
white scales 
48. Emending the senseless "put" to "caput." 
49. The text is sound; the sense is apparently that the splotches resemble an enclosed garden. 
The translation of the 13th edition reads, "resembling a flower-pot", but the translation is dubious 
and the sense obscure. 
50. The actual date of publication is 1751. 
51. A referral to the snakes that are sold being the Egyptian species, not the European species 
Coluber berus. 
52. Greek mythology lists three fates: Clotho wove the thread of life into a tapestry that 
represented all of existence; Lachesis measured each individual thread, and Atropos was the fate 
