THE CLASSICAL PLANTS OF SICILY. 145 
house makes Crategus Aria. Since this tree retains the 
name Agos, in modern Greece (Sibth.), we can with greater 
reason refer the species of Theophrastus to it. The Ilex, 
Ischiu, and the Cork, are frequent in the natural woods in 
Sicily. 
123, Q. Suber.—Common Cork-tree. 
Derric, xni Qerrddgug. Theoph. lib. iii. cap. 16, according to 
Stackhouse and Sprengel. Theophrastus relates that all trees 
die if they be barked all round, except the Cork-tree, and 
that is improved by it,—xow7 mtv 64 Tào Qdoge rob Prov migieuge— 
Ozvrog xÜx^u «Xv & dom DEAR, rodrov yap paoi xal) edorereii, lib. iv. 
cap. 18, that is, because the bark of the Cork-tree is double, 
and by taking off the exterior one every three or four years, 
the tree flourishes much longer, than if it was allowed to 
remain. 
Pindar gives a simile, comparing a person who cannot sink 
to cork, which swims on the surface of the water, — 
“Are yap sivadsoy eróvoy ó- 
~ LI , 
xoísug Bad) oxsv&c irigac, &9á- 
TTIOTÓG sip, PEAAÒS ws, 
* \ u er 
YTES égxos HAWES —— 
Pyth. ii v. 144. The Bark (cortex) of the Cork-tree has 
been long used for the stopples of vessels, and must be so 
interpreted in Horat. Carm. lib. iii. Od. viii. v. 10. 
124. Q. coccifera.— Kermes Oak. 
Tigivos. Diosc. lib. i. cap. 145, and also of Theoph. lib. iii. 
cap. 16, which is said to bear a scarlet xéxx0¢ (Gall-apple 
occasioned by the puncture of an insect) in addition to 
its acorn,—¢ége ò: xal rage v5» Bdrcvev xóxzov viv, genixoUv. This 
is the xéxxos Bagi Gall, or Gall-nut used in dying, Diosc. 
lib. iv. cap. 48. It is mentioned by Horace, Serm. lib. ii. 
Sat, vi. v. 103. 
Rubro ubi cocco 
Tincta super lectos canderet vestis eburnos. 
Pausanias, Phoe. lib. x. cap. 36, has well described this Oak, 
SEcoxp Serres. T 
