Biology & medicine · 1735
Caroli Linnæi Regnum Animale
Excerpt · Systema Naturæ · Leiden, 1735
- Source
- archive.org
- Retrieved
- 27 September 2026
- License
- Public domain
- Rights holder
- Carl Linnaeus, 1735
- Language
- Latin
About this edition and its rights
Edition
Excerpt: the double-page table Regnum Animale of the first edition of Systema Naturæ (Leiden, Theodor Haak, 1735), from the scan of the copy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library, on the Internet Archive (Cat31011605, 400 ppi). In that copy the two pages of the table are leaves 10 and 13 of the scan, separated by the Observationes in Regnum Animale; for the poster they are cropped to the printed frame and joined as a spread, the right page scaled by 97.8% to the height of the left, in grayscale with the paper whitened (levels 6% to 88%) and reduced to 6400 px wide. Below the image, the headings of the six classes and the section PARADOXA of column III are transcribed from the OCR of the same scan, corrected word by word against its page images: the long s is set as s and the ligature ct as c t; the spaces before , ; : and . are not kept; words hyphenated at line ends are joined; the accents (valdè, verò, temerè, allegoricè, fabulosè, à, è) and italics of the print are kept, and its small capitals are set as small capitals. A new paragraph starts at each paradox, as in the print. The genera, characters and species of the table, and the note on the class Amphibia above the Paradoxa, are only in the image.
Rights
Published in 1735, before 1931: public domain in the United States. Carl Linnaeus died in 1778, before 1956: public domain in France.
The scan was made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library, a federal agency (17 U.S.C. 105), and the Internet Archive item states no rights; a photographic reproduction of a public domain page adds no protected work. Wikimedia Commons marks another reproduction of the same table, File:Linnaeus - Regnum Animale (1735).png, “PD-Art” (PD-old-100-1923).
I. QUADRUPEDIA.#
Corpus hirsutum. Pedes quatuor. Feminæ viviparæ, lactiferæ.
II. AVES.#
Corpus plumosum. Alæ duæ. Pedes duo. Rostrum osseum. Feminæ oviparæ.
III. AMPHIBIA.#
Corpus nudum, vel squamosum. Dentes molares nulli: reliqui semper. Pinnæ nullæ.
IV. PISCES.#
Corpus apodum, pinnis veris instructum, nudum, vel squamosum.
V. INSECTA.#
Corpus crusta ossea cutis loco tectum. Caput antennis instructum.
VI. VERMES.#
Corporis Musculi ab una parte basi cuidam solidæ affixi.
PARADOXA.#
Hydra corpore anguino, pedibus duobus, collis septem, & totidem capitibus, alarum expers, asservatur Hamburgi, similitudinem referens Hydræ Apocalypticæ à S. Joanne Cap. xii. & xiii. descriptæ. Eaque tanquam veri animalis speciem plurimis præbuit, sed falso. Natura sibi semper similis plura capita in uno corpore nunquam produxit naturaliter. Fraudem & artificium, cum Ipsi vidimus, dentes Ferino-mustelini, ab Amphibiorum dentibus diversi, facillime detexerunt.
Rana-Piscis s. Ranæ in Piscem Metamorphosis valdè paradoxa est, quum Natura mutationem Generis unius in aliam diversæ Classis non admittat. Ranæ, ut Amphibia omnia, pulmonibus gaudent & ossibus spinosis. Pisces spinosi, loco pulmonum, branchiis instruuntur. Ergo legi Naturæ contraria foret hæc mutatio. Si enim piscis hic instructus est branchiis, erit diversus à Rana & Amphibiis. Si verò pulmones, erit Lacerta: nam toto cælo à Chondropterygiis & Plagiuris differt.
Monoceros Veterum, corpore equino, pedibus ferinis; cornu recto, longo, spiraliter intorto, Pictorum figmentum est. Monodon Artedi ejusmodi cornu gerit, cæteris verò partibus multum differt.
Pelecanus rostro vulnus infligens femori suo, ut emanante sanguine sitim pullorum levet, fabulosè ab Iisdem traditur. Ansam fabulæ dedit saccus sub gula pendulus.
Satyrus caudatus, hirsutus, barbatus, humanum referens corpus, gesticulationibus valde deditus, salacissimus, Simiæ species est, si unquam aliquis visus fuit. Homines quoque Caudati, de quibus recentiores peregrinatores multa narrant, ejusdem generis sunt.
Borometz s. Agnus Scythicus plantis accensetur, & agno adsimilatur; cui caulis alterius plantæ è terra erumpens umbilicum intrat; idemque sanguine præditus à feris devorari temerè dicitur. Est autem artificiose ex radicibus Filicinis Americanis compositus. Naturaliter autem est Embryo Ovis allegoricè descriptus, qui omnia data habet attributa.
Phoenix, Avis species, cujus unicum in mundo individuum, & quæ decrepita ex ferali busto, quod sibi ex aromatibus struxerat, repuerascere fabulosè fertur, felicem subitura prioris vitæ periodum. Est verò Palma Dactylifera. vid. Kæmpf.
Bernicla s. Anser Scoticus & Concha Anatifera è lignis putridis in mare abjectis nasci à Veteribus creditur. Sed fucum imposuit Lepas interaneis suis penniformibus, & modo adhærendi, quasi verus ille anser Bernicla inde oriretur.
Draco corpore anguino, duobus pedibus, duabus alis, Vespertilionis instar, est Lacerta alata, vel Raja per artem monstrose ficta, & siccata.
Automa Mortis Horologii minimi sonitum edens in parietibus, est Pediculus pulsatorius dictus, qui ligna perforat, eaque inhabitat.