72 FLORA OF THE 



place. I do not, however, see any reason for abandon- 

 ing that theory with regard to the pine-apple-hke fruit 

 carried pompously in the hand, as shown in fig. 2gc. 

 This sculpture shows two persons, each holding one 

 of these things in front of him, as if he were carry- 

 ing some great rarity to the king. I still maintain 

 that very probably that thing was intended to represent 

 a fingered citron, of which many varieties occur, and one 

 of which is given in fig. 2gb, and another in fig. 31.^ 



In 'Nature' of 23rd June, 1890, Dr. E. B. Tylor 

 started another theory regarding the meaning of ' the 

 cone-fruit.' He thought that the cone-like object, held 

 in the hand of the genius, was meant to represent 

 the male inflorescence of the date palm, and that the 

 bucket or basket held in the other hand, as shown 

 in fig. 28, was meant to indicate a further supply of 

 male flowers, kept in the bucket. He moreover sup- 

 posed that the conventional date tree to which the 

 cone-object is pointed, was intended to indicate a palm- 

 grove, and that the genii are in the act of fertilizing 

 the female flowers, which eventually grow into dates. 



In the Babylonian and Oriental record I think I have 

 sufficiently shown that the vessel held in one hand should 

 not be considered 'either a bucket or a basket.' The 

 sculptures in the British Museum and Botta's ' Monu- 



' See Babylonian and Oriental Record on the ' Antiquity of tlie Citron Tree 

 in Egypt,' vol. vi, No. 9, March, 1893, P- 203. 



