THE LITERATURE CITED BY LINNAEUS IN THE AMPHIBIAN 
AND REPTILE SECTION OF SYSTEMA NATURAE X 
by 
Harold A. Dundee 
Although Linnaeus is credited with the scientific names given in the 10th edition of the Systems 
Naturae, he was not the originator of many of those names. He used many names given by earlier 
writers. In the species accounts, his format is comparable to our current day "synonymy", usually 
giving the name used but also including in many cases some pertinent description given by the 
source cited. For modern systematic treatments, we can ignore those names given by pre- 
Linnaean authors, but the information may be useful for historical biological studies or to 
systematists who wish to examine a more detailed description of a Linnaean type-specimen than 
that given by Linnaeus in the 10th ed. of Systems Naturae. I have attempted to document each 
citation that Linnaeus used. 
Identification of the literature cited by Linnaeus has not been an easy task. Although I was able 
to identify specifically many of the sources to which Linnaeus referred , often by virtue that only 
one author & title answered to that abbreviation, I frequently could only identify the publication but 
not the specific edition that Linnaeus may have seen. Many reprintings of older publications were 
made and the paginations are not necessarily the same as the original. To actually see the various 
possible editions I would have had to visit many libraries in diverse places, a task that could not be 
justified in terms of time or cost. But I have seen personally a copy of every item cited by 
Linnaeus. Major sources for determining titles and editions for the citations that I have identified 
include: 1985 The British Library General Catalogue of Printed Books to 1975, K.G. Saur, 
London; 1931 Catalogue General des Livres Imprimes de la Bibliotheque Nationale [France]. 
Imprimerie Nationale, Paris;1979 National Union Catalog. Pre-1956 Imprints, Mansell Publishing, 
London and The American Library Association; continuances of the NU Catalog by Library of 
Congress. Generally speaking, I assume that Linnaeus used the editions in his own library 
whenever possible; that library is now housed at the Linnean Society in London. The material has 
all been placed on microfilm at the University of California, Berkeley library from a microfilm at the 
Library of Congress. A # precedes sources that were pari of Linnaeus's library, but Linnaeus’s 
edition may not be the same as the one I actually saw. All remaining items are listed in good faith. 
When in doubt, I list the earliest published version. I have been adamant in condemning authors 
who cite things that they have not seen but merely saw cited in some other article, thus often 
perpetuating errors. The citations as given are presented as I saw them on the title pages, thus 
use of "v" for "u", etc. is presented so that a reader may feel confident that he has the correct 
reference. Author names given in various catalogs may be anglicized, even though they appear 
on title pages in Latin or some other native language form. In several cases I have noted errors by 
Linnaeus when I could examine an original of the source. Occasionally I refer to Heller 1958; this 
is Heller, J.L. Index auctorum et librorum a Linnaeo (Species Plantarum, 1753) citatorum, pp. 3-60 
of an appendix to Species Plantorum, a facsimile of the first edition published in 1959 by the Ray 
Society. Citations therein that were abbreviated the same as in Systems Naturae X were 
investigated as much as possible. At the time of his death, Heller had been working for years on 
