60 NOTICES OF BOOKS AND MEMOIRS. 



of the viiie and the enjoyment resulting from its use in Egypt. The 

 consequences of the latter are immortalised in different old repre- 

 sentations." Grai3es apx)ear in different Egyptian collections. 

 Those in this museum are of the size of moderately large raisins, 

 somewhat long (unpointed) ; 0-01-0-018 m. long, of a black colour, 

 not brown like our raisins, which is foreshadowed by the originally 

 dark-blue colour of the grapes, as may be recognised on several 

 of the coloured representations mentioned by Unger. Several 

 grapes which have been examined contained not one but 

 three seeds each, although Kunthf denotes it as Vitis vinifera var. 

 monopyrena. After lying for four days in water and having hot 

 water poured on them three times, these fruits were not softened, 

 and did not in any way assume the fleshy and tender consistency 

 of softened grapes, but under powerful pressure they crumbled to 

 pieces like rotten wood. They coloured the water rather dark 

 chestnut-brown. The seeds on drying became cracked, and the 

 cell-layer began to come off so that they had to be fastened with 

 gum ; they behave themselves, therefore, like fossil seeds. 



The size of the seeds agrees with that of the seeds of large 

 raisins, but are somewhat flatter, in the upper part rather broader 

 and more deej)ly hollowed, bilobed, and rather suddenly dimi- 

 nished in the lower beak-shaped end. They are about 0-007 m. 

 long and from 0-0045 to 0-005 m. broad. 



The chemist Julia-Fontenelle did not succeed in proving the 

 existence of sugar in the flesh of the fruit. | 



The pomegranate {Punka Granatiim, L.) is abundantly repre- 

 sented on the monuments, e. //., Unger, loc. cit., xxxviii. 23, 

 Figs. 85, 89. In the Passalacqua collection there are fruits some- 

 what smaller and of more simple structure than those of to-day. 

 The latter have usually 6-8, the old ones on the other hand only 

 4-6 cells. One of the Passalacqua fruits is " bitten so that 

 that the impression of both rows of teeth of a human being may be 

 recognised ; a way of opening these fruits which is still the 

 custom among the common people in Egypt" — (Ehrenberg, in a 

 letter to Passalacqua). 



No. 452 of the Passalacqua collection is denoted " fruits 

 inconnus " in the Catalogue, pp. 22, 228. These fruits ptove to be 

 those oiaSapihdics. Prof. Radlkofer, the well-known monographer of 

 the Sapindacem, has had the kindness to determine the species and 

 to make the following communication as to its nomenclature and 

 use. According to his investigations these fruits belong to 

 Sapindiis ejnarginatus, Vahl, which form, like Sapindus laurifolius, 

 Vahl, is, accordmg to Hicrn, with whom Radlkofer entirely 

 agrees, not to be separated from Sapindus trifoliatus, L. The fruits 

 of this East Indian tree are used in their native land, as in other 

 lands further west, in washing the head and hair as well as 

 ornamental articles of dregs, e. g., silken materials. _ They bear in 



* Unger, l. c, p. IIG, 



+ ' Passalacqua Cat.' p. 220. « Ann. Sc. Nat.' viii., p. 422. 



* ' Passalacqua Cat.' p. 20;!. 



