18 CHARACTER, HISTORY AND 



persons who produced them from the seed. Such were the Decimiana; 

 from whence came the name Pseudo decimiana ; the Dolabelliana had long 

 stems; the Pomponiana received the cognomen of Mammosa, from their 

 pecuUar form ; the Liceriana, derived their name, in the opinion of some 

 commentators, from Licinius, while others thuik, that the original name 

 was Luceriana, from Liicerius, an illustrious tribune ; the Sevia7ia were the 

 progenitors of Turranina ; but the stems of the latter are longer ; the 

 Favoniana were red and a Uttle larger than the Crustumia ; the Lateriana 

 are called Lateritiana by Columella ; the A7iicia?ia, were a late Autumn 

 variety, and had an agreeable acid flavor ; the Tiberiana were thus named, 

 on account of theu' being much admired by the Emperor Tiberius; they 

 differed from the Liceriana, by being larger and higher colored. 



The pears which bore the names of the places of their origin Avere the 

 Armenian, — which was the latest variety; the Picentina ; Numantina ; 

 Alexandrina; Graeca ; Numidiana; Terentina. The Signina was also- 

 called Testacea, in consequence of resembling, in color-, the red vases which 

 were made of baked earth; it was also from their peculiar colors, that, 

 the Onichina and the Purpurea were thus named, they being of a purplish 

 tint. The Mt/rapia, Laurea, and Nardina were thus named from the 

 aroma which they emitted. The Hordearia, or Barley-Pears, were so 

 called because they were ripe at the thne of harvesting that grain. The 

 Ampullacea resembled, in form, bottles of that name, which had long necks. 

 The Laneo-bruta were indebted for their name to the down with which 

 they were covered, and were of the family of the squash-shaped pears, 

 which were very acid. 



The origin of the names of the exotic pears was not known ; or of those 

 which were called Venereis ; which latter were highly colored. The Royal 

 pears were of a flat form, with short stems. The Patriciis and Voconiis, 

 were oblong and of a green color. 



• Cato mentions the Volema pear, which was of a large size, and included 

 it in his Ust of the winter pears. The late varieties, and particularly the 



Greek, called Ampidlacea .and Laurea, were not gathered until whiter, as 

 they were ripened by the frost. 



Pliny censures Virgil for neglecting to smg of gardens ; and among the 

 trees and plants named in his Georgicks, there are, of the fruit bearing 

 species, only the citron, fifteen kinds of the grape, three of the olive, and 

 three pears— the 



" Crustumiis, Syriisque pyris, gravibusque Volemis.^^ 



Juvenal, who lived during the reigns of Nero and Domitian, mentions 

 two varieties of the pear, among the three kmds of fruit, in the description 

 of the frugal entertainment promised to Persicus, 



