Further, Lycosthenes, in his "Chronicon Prodigiorum atque Ostentorum", published in 1557, states, upon what authority I know not, that in the year 1112 joined twins resembling the Biddenden phenomenon in all points save in sex were born in England.
The passage is as follows: 'In Anglia natus est puer geminus a clune ad superiores partes ita divisus, ut duo haberet capita, duo corpora integra ad renes cum suis brachiis, qui baptizatus triduo supervixit.' It is just possible that in some way or other this case has been confounded with the story of Biddenden; at any rate, the occurrence of such a statement in Lycosthenes' work is of more than passing interest.
Had there been no bequest of land in connection with the case of the Kentish Maids, the whole affair would probably soon have been forgotten.
"There is, however, one real difficulty in accepting the story handed down to us as authentic,--the nature of the teratologic phenomenon itself.

All the records agree in stating that the Maids were joined together at the shoulders and hips, and the impression on the cakes and the pictures on the 'broadsides' show this peculiar mode of union, and represent the bodies as quite separate in the space between the above-named points.

The Maids are shown with four feet and two arms, the right and left respectively, whilst the other arms (left and right) are fused together at the shoulder according to one illustration, and a little above the elbow according to another.

Now, although it is not safe to say that such an anomaly is impossible, I do not know of any case of this peculiar mode of union; but it may be that, as Prof.A.R.
Simpson has suggested, the Maids had four separate arms, and were in the habit of going about with their contiguous arms round each other's necks, and that this gave rise to the notion that these limbs were united.

If this be so, then the teratologic difficulty is removed, for the case becomes perfectly comparable with the well-known but rare type of double terata known as the pygopagous twins, which is placed by Taruffi with that of the ischiopagous twins in the group dicephalus lecanopagus.