ABSTRACT
Because cellulosic materials are derived from structural portions of plants, addressing the topic of cellulose degradation in metazoans implicitly necessitates a discussion of herbivory. Two aspects of reptilian herbivory have been consistently troublesome. F irs t, it has not been clear exactly what is meant by the description of a given species as "herbivorous." The term "herbivory" has generally implied the consumption of any type of plant material — fru it and other highly digestible structures as well as the fibrous and less d i gestible plant parts such as leaves, stems, and buds. The impor tance of fiber content of the diet and microbial fermentation of cell
wall material has been long recognized by animal scientists (reviewed in Ref. 1) and the technology for measuring fiber content of food and feces has been available for some time (2 ) . However, field bio logists have been slow to make use of this knowledge in interpreting the role of anatomy and nutrition in the ecology and behavior of non domestic herbivores (c f. 3 -1 0 ) .
