Chap. 34.1 TAEIOTJS NATTJEES OP ritTJIT. 327 



sorts they are easily separated. In some fruits there is no 

 stone or shell 15 either within or without, one variety of the 

 date, 16 for instance. In some kinds, again, the shell is eaten, 

 just the same as the fruit ; this we have already mentioned as 

 being the case with a variety of the almond found in Egypt. 11 

 Some fruits have on the outside a twofold refuse covering, the 

 chesnut, the almond, and the walnut, for example. Some, 

 again, are composed of three separate parts— the body oi the 

 fruit, then a woody shell, and inside of that a kernel, as in the 



peach. 



Some fruits grow closely packed together, such as grapes 

 and sorbs : these last, just like so many grapes in a cluster, 

 cling round the branch and bend it downwards with their 

 weight. On the other hand, some fruits grow separately, at a 

 distance from one another; this is the case with the peach. 

 Some fruits are enclosed in a sort of matrix, as with the grains 

 of the pomegranate : some hang down from a stalk, such as 

 the pear, for instance: others hang in clusters, grapes and 

 dates, for example. Others, again, grow upon stalks^and 

 bunches united : this we find the case with the berries of the 

 ivy and the elder. Some adhere close to the branches, like 

 the laurel berry, while other varieties lie close to the branch 

 or hang from it, as the case may be : thus we find in the olive 

 some fruit with short stalks, and others with long. Some fruits 

 grow with a little calyx at the top, the pomegranate, for ex- 

 ample, the medlar, and the lotus 18 of Egypt and the Euphrates. 



Then, too, as to the various parts of fruit, they are held m 

 different degrees of esteem according to their respective re- 

 commendations. In the date it is the flesh that is usually 

 liked, in those of Thebais it is the crust ; 19 the grape and the 

 caryota date are esteemed for their juice, the pear and the 

 apple for their firmness, the melimelum 20 for its soft meat, 



15 Lignum : literally, " wood." il There is no wood, cither within or 

 without?" fie has one universal name for what we call shell, seed, stones, 

 pips, grains, &c. 



ls The " spado," or " eunuch " date. See B. xiii. c. 8. 



!" See B. xiii. c. 17. The fruit of the ben is alluded to, hut, as lee 

 observes, Pliny is wrong in calling it an almond, as it is a pulpy fruit. 



18 The Nymphosa nelumbo of Linnaeus. 



19 Or shell, which, as Tee remarks, participates but very little m the 

 properties of the flesh. 



2 " Or " honey" apple; see c. 15 of this Book. 



