Chapter 1, The Reptilian Spectacle - UWSpace - University of ...

“Il est de connaissance presque vulgaire que la cornée des serpents est protégée par une écaille
transparente que, sur les dépouilles épidermiques abandonnées par ces reptiles au course de l’été, on
retrouve enchâssée dans les téguments de la tête sous l’apparence d’un petit verre de montre.”
“It is rather common knowledge that the cornea of snakes is protected by a transparent scale that,
within epidermal sheds abandoned by these reptiles during the summer, we may find it encased in the
integument of the head with the appearance of a little watch glass.”
- André Rochon-Duvigneaud 1916
Shed skin from the head of a snake showing the “watch glass” appearance of
the scales that cover the eyes. In his later account of the snake eye, Rochon-
Duvigneaud (1943) instead likened the scales to rigid contact lenses.
(photo by K. van Doorn)
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