While diseases of free-ranging and captive mammalian and avian wildlife species have received considerable interest in the past 25 years, those of amphibians and reptiles (collectively, the herptiles) generally have been assigned lesser importance. The literature concern ing disease in herptiles is widely scattered, consisting chiefly of case reports and prevalence surveys, and with heavy emphasis on captive reptiles. The dynamics of the host-agent-environment relationship have been studied for only a few diseases. This diverse data base is primarily a function of the paucity of investigators...