diff --git a/scour.py b/scour.py
index 9737042..a3a8a74 100755
--- a/scour.py
+++ b/scour.py
@@ -2125,10 +2125,13 @@ def parseListOfPoints(s):
 		# we got negative coords
 		else:
 			for j in xrange(len(negcoords)):
-				# first number could be positive
 				if j == 0:
+					# first number could be positive
 					if negcoords[0] != '':
 						nums.append(negcoords[0])
+				# but it could also be negative
+				elif len(nums) == 0:
+					nums.append('-' + negcoords[j])
 				# otherwise all other strings will be negative
 				else:
 					# unless we accidentally split a number that was in scientific notation
@@ -2554,9 +2557,9 @@ def removeComments(element) :
 		# must process the document object separately, because its
 		# documentElement's nodes have None as their parentNode
 		for subelement in element.childNodes:
-			if isinstance(element, xml.dom.minidom.Comment):
-				numCommentBytes += len(element.data)
-				element.documentElement.removeChild(subelement)
+			if isinstance(subelement, xml.dom.minidom.Comment):
+				numCommentBytes += len(subelement.data)
+				element.removeChild(subelement)
 			else:
 				removeComments(subelement)
 	elif isinstance(element, xml.dom.minidom.Comment):
diff --git a/testscour.py b/testscour.py
index aabcb9c..bce1d13 100755
--- a/testscour.py
+++ b/testscour.py
@@ -704,6 +704,19 @@ class ScourPolylineNegativeCoords(unittest.TestCase):
 		self.assertEquals(p.getAttribute('points'), '100 -100 100 -100 100 -100 -100 -100 -100 200',
 			'Negative polyline coordinates not properly parsed')
 
+class ScourPolygonNegativeCoordFirst(unittest.TestCase):
+	def runTest(self):
+		p = scour.scourXmlFile('unittests/polygon-coord-neg-first.svg').getElementsByTagNameNS(SVGNS, 'polygon')[0]
+		#  points="-100,-100,100-100,100-100-100,-100-100,200" />
+		self.assertEquals(p.getAttribute('points'), '-100 -100 100 -100 100 -100 -100 -100 -100 200',
+			'Negative polygon coordinates not properly parsed')
+
+class ScourPolylineNegativeCoordFirst(unittest.TestCase):
+	def runTest(self):
+		p = scour.scourXmlFile('unittests/polyline-coord-neg-first.svg').getElementsByTagNameNS(SVGNS, 'polyline')[0]
+		self.assertEquals(p.getAttribute('points'), '-100 -100 100 -100 100 -100 -100 -100 -100 200',
+			'Negative polyline coordinates not properly parsed')
+
 class DoNotRemoveGroupsWithIDsInDefs(unittest.TestCase):
 	def runTest(self):
 		f = scour.scourXmlFile('unittests/important-groups-in-defs.svg')
diff --git a/unittests/polygon-coord-neg-first.svg b/unittests/polygon-coord-neg-first.svg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9f87a3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unittests/polygon-coord-neg-first.svg
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
+<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
+ <polygon points="-100,-100,100-100,100-100-100,-100-100,200" />
+</svg>
diff --git a/unittests/polyline-coord-neg-first.svg b/unittests/polyline-coord-neg-first.svg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41d1981
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unittests/polyline-coord-neg-first.svg
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
+<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
+ <polyline points="-100,-100,100-100,100-100-100,-100-100,200" />
+</svg>