196 PLINY'S 2TATUEAL HISTOEY. [Book XIII. 



in waving lines, or else forming spirals like so many little 

 whirlpools. In the former arrangement the lines run in an 

 oblong direction, for which reason these are called " tiger" 56 

 tables ; while in the latter the marks are circling and spiral, 

 and hence they are styled "panther" 37 tables. There are 

 some tables also with wavy, undulating marks, and which are 

 more particularly esteemed if these resemble the eyes on a 

 peacock's tail. Next in esteem to these last, as well as those 

 previously mentioned, is the veined wood, 56 covered, as it were, 

 with dense masses of grain, for which reason these tables have 

 received the name of " apiatse." 59 But the colour of the wood 

 is the quality that is held in the highest esteem of all : that 

 of wine mixed with honey 60 being the most prized, theveinsbeing 

 peculiarly refulgent. Next to the colour, it is the size that is 

 prized ; at the present day whole trunks are greatly admired, 

 and sometimes several are united in a single table. 



The peculiar defects in these kinds of tables are woodiness, 61 

 such being the name given to the table when the wood is dull, 

 common-looking, indistinct, or else has mere simple marks 

 upon it, resembling the leaves of the plane-tree ; also, when 

 it resembles the veins of the holm-oak or the colour of that 

 tree; and, a fault to which it is peculiarly liable from the 

 effect of heat or wind, when it has flaws in it or hair-like lines 

 resembling flaws ; when it has a black mark, too, running 

 through it resembling a murena in appearance, various streaks 

 that look like crow scratches, or knots like poppy heads, with a 

 colour all over nearly approaching to black, or blotches of a 

 sickly hue. The barbarous tribes bury this wood in the 

 ground while green, first giving it a coating of wax. When 

 it comes into the workmen's hands, they put it for seven days 

 beneath a heap of corn, and then take it out for as many 



strata lignea, running perpendicularly iu the trunk, and the number of 

 which denotes the age of the tree. 



=6 « Tigrince." 



57 " Pantherinae." The former tables were probably made of small pieces 

 from the trunk, the latter from the sections of the tubers or knots. 



ss "Crispis." 



59 Or " parsley-seed " tables. It has also been suggested that the word 

 comes from "apis," a bee; the wood presenting the appearance of being 

 covered with swarms of bees. 



60 "Mulsum." This mixture will be found frequently mentioned in the 

 next Book. 



cl Lignum. 



