This faculty of reproduction is doubtless designed to enable the creature to escape from its assailants: the detaching of the limb is evidently its own act; and it is observable, that when reproduced, the tail generally exhibits some variation from the previous form, the diverging spines being absent, the new portion covered with small square uniform scales placed in a cross series, and the Scuta below being seldom so distinct as in the original member.
"Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon"
J. Emerson Tennent
Id ne furto auferri posset, Mamurium fabrum undecim Scuta eadem forma fabricare iussit.
"Selections from Viri Romae"
Charles François L'Homond
Germania, 6, "Scuta tantum lectissimis coloribus distinguunt."
"Beowulf An Introduction to the Study of the Poem with a Discussion of the Stories of Offa and Finn"
R. W. Chambers