12 plant's natural HISTORY. [Book XI. 



again through the mouth — deteriorated besides by the juices 

 of flowers, and then steeped within the hives and subjected to 

 such repeated changes — still, in spite of all this, it affords us 

 by its flavour a most exquisite pleasure, the result, no doubt, 

 of its aethereal nature and origin. 



CHAP. 13. (13.) WHERE THE BEST HONEY IS PRODUCED. 



The honey is always best in those countries where it is to 

 be found deposited in the calix of the most exquisite flowers, 

 such, for instance, as the districts of Hymettus and Hybla, 

 in Attica and Sicily respectively, and after them the island of 

 Calydna. 33 At first, honey is thin, like water, after which it 

 effervesces for some days, and purifies itself like must. On 

 the twentieth day it begins to thicken, and soon after becomes 

 covered with a thin membrane, which gradually increases 

 through the scum which is thrown up by the heat. The 

 honey of the very finest flavour, and the least tainted by the 

 leaves of trees, is that gathered from the foliage of the oak 

 and the linden, and from reeds. 



CHAP. 14. (14.) THE KINDS OP HONEY PECULIAR TO VARIOUS 



PLACES. 



The peculiar excellence of honey depends, as already stated, 33 

 on the country in which it is produced ; the modes, too, of 

 estimating its quality are numerous. In some countries we find 

 the honey-comb remarkable for the goodness of the wax, as in 

 Sicily, for instance, and the country of the Peligni ; in other 

 places the honey itself is found in greater abundance, as in 

 Crete, Cyprus, and Africa ; and in others, again, the comb is 

 remarkable for its size ; the northern climates, for instance, 

 for in Germany a comb has been known to be as much as eight 

 feet in length, and quite black on the concave surface. 



But whatever the country in which it may happen to have been 

 produced, there are three different kinds of honey. — Spring 

 honey 34 is that made in a comb which has been constructed of 

 flowers, from w T hich circumstance it has received the name of an- 

 thinum. There are some persons who say that this should not 

 be touched, because the more abundant the nutriment, the 



v See B. iv. c. 24. 33 In the last Chapter. 



34 o r a Flower-honey." 



