-;; the "9" entry intentionally left blank for some reason -- WHN 19990806
-;;
-;; appropriated by CSR 2004-03-16
+;;; the following two are not static but depend on *READ-BASE*.
+;;; DECIMAL-DIGIT is for characters being digits in base 10 but not in
+;;; base *READ-BASE* (which is therefore perforce smaller than 10);
+;;; DIGIT-OR-EXPT is for characters being both exponent markers and
+;;; digits in base *READ-BASE* (which is therefore perforce larger
+;;; than 10). -- CSR, 2004-03-16