John White and the Earliest (1585-1587) Illustrations 
of North American Reptiles 
Hobart M. Smith, Michael J. Preston, 1 Rozella B. Smith, 2 
and Eugene F. Irey 1 ’ 2 
Department of Environmental, Population and Organismic Biology 
University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309 
ABSTRACT. — Five paintings of reptiles executed by John White 
between 1585 and 1587 are the earliest known depictions of North 
American herpetozoa. They represent the box turtle, Terrapene Carolina ; 
the diamondback terrapin, Malaclemys terrapin ; the loggerhead, Caretta 
caretta; a West Indian iguana, Cyclura ( cychlural ); and a crocodilian 
( Crocodylus acutusl). Black-and-white reproductions of the paintings 
are provided, as well as a brief account of White’s role in the history of 
North American exploration. 
It is well recognized (e.g. Smith and Smith 1973) that Francisco 
Hernandez was the earliest naturalist to depict American reptiles and 
amphibians, through his travels in Mexico from 1570 to 1577. Lamenta- 
bly, his manuscript of 15 folio volumes with many illustrations was 
destroyed by fire in 1671, but not before it had been extensively revised, 
abridged, amended, and plagiarized by several authors. An abridged 
version appeared under Hernandez’s name in 1628, augmented in 1649 
(see Hulton and Quinn 1964), and the earliest annotated excerpts 
appeared under the authorship of Francisco Ximenez in 1615. Only 
black-and-white copies of the original illustrations have survived. The 
next illustrations of North American species of reptiles and amphibians, 
by a naturalist, did not appear until 1743, in Catesby’s famed monograph 
(cf. Adler 1979). 
Between the dates of Hernandez’s and Catesby’s works, and indeed 
only shortly after the earlier of the two, in the period from 1585 to 1587, 
John White prepared numerous watercolor paintings, drawings, and 
maps while living on Roanoke Island, N.C., or while traveling in its 
vicinity and in the West Indies. Of his work dating from 1577 to 1590, 
about 75 paintings remain, including one of uncertain origin; 62 depict 
animals, plants, Indians, and geography of the areas he visited in the 
New World. All of these are replicas White made of the originals, which 
are now all lost (Quinn 1955). Five of the 62 paintings depict reptiles; 
others of biological interest include 6 of plants, 13 of fishes, 6 of birds, 
and 7 of various invertebrates. White’s many other paintings, known 
•Department of English, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0226. 
2 Deceased. 
Brimleyana 16:1 19-131, July 1990 
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