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In the chitin bibliography, a major reference is the book written by Richards in 1951 “primarily for entomologists and other invertebrate zoologists” but also, in the author’s hope, for chemists: the perception of the need for more chemical information is manifest in the preface of the book. 1 In fact, the chitin chemistry developed to that date was inadequate: for instance, color tests were not specific enough to provide a reliable picture of the distribution and location of chitin in living organisms. Specific and accurate techniques for chitin identification became accessible in 1963 with the improvement of the X-ray diffraction methods by Rudall2 and the enzymatic method of Jeuniaux. 3 The book edited by Hepburn, 4 starting with a biographical chapter honoring AG Richards followed by chapters on biochemical modifications of chitin by Rudall and Muzzarelli, remains a remarkable contribution. The books by Hepburn (1976 …