274 PLINY'S NATUBAL HISTORY. [Book XXVII. 



woven material " generally, and not of fine linen, or cambric, as suggested 

 in Note 55. 



B. xix. c. 2 [V. iv. p. 134]. The genuineness of the passage which, 

 makes mention of the " Gossypium," is questioned by Dr. Yates, who 

 thinks it possible that it is an interpolation : such, however, if we may 

 judge from the result of Sillig's researches, does not appear to have been 

 the case. If, on the other hand, the passage is genuine, Dr. Yates is of 

 opinion that the statement is incorrect, and that cotton was not grown in 

 Egypt. It seems just possible, however, that Pliny may have had in view 

 the trees mentioned by him in B. xiv. c. 28, 



B. xix. c. 4 [V. iv. p. 137, also p. 134, Note 37]. Dr. Yates has ad- 

 duced a number of convincing arguments to prove that the " Byssus " of 

 the ancients cannot have been cotton, but that in all probability it was a 

 texture of fine flax. The passages of Pausanias, (B. v. c. 25, and B. vi. 

 c. 26) in which "Byssus" is mentioned, would certainly seem to apply 

 to flax, a product which is still cultivated near the mouth of the river 

 Peneus, in ancient Elis. There is no doubt, however, that Philostratus, 

 though perhaps erroneously, has used the word "Byssus" as meaning 

 cotton. 



