PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR FRUITS. 'ZOl 



Heer gives an illustration of the stones of Prunus 

 avium, in his paper on the lake-dwellings of Western 

 Switzerland.^ From what he was kind enough to write 

 to me, April 14, 1881, these stones were found in the 

 peat formed above the ancient deposits of the age of 

 stone. De Mortillet ^ found similar cherry-stones in the 

 lake-dwellings of Bourget belonging to an epoch not 

 very remote, more recent than the stone age. Dr. Gross 

 sent me some from the locality, also comparatively recent, 

 of Corcelette on Lake Neuchatel, and Strobel and Pigorini 

 discovered some in the " terramare " of Parma.^ All these 

 are settlements posterior to the stone age, and perhaps 

 belonging to historic time. If no more ancient stones of 

 this species are found in Europe, it will seem probable 

 that naturalization took place after the Aryan migrations. 



Sour Cherry — Prunus cerasus, Linnaeus ; Cerasus vul- 

 garis, Miller ; Baumweischel , Savierkirschen, in German. 



The Montmorency and griotte cherries, and several 

 other kinds known to horticulturists, are derived from 

 this species.'* 



Hobenacker^ saw Prunus cerasus at Lenkoran, near 

 the Caspian Sea, and Koch^ in the forests of Asia 

 Minor, that is to say, in the north-east of that country, 

 as that was the region in which he travelled. Ancient 

 authors found it at Elisabethpol and Erivan, according 

 to Ledebour.'^ Grisebach^ indicates it on Mount Olympus 

 of Bithynia, and adds that it is nearly wild on the plains 

 of Macedonia. The true and really ancient habitation 

 seems to extend from the Caspian Sea to the environs 

 of Constantinople ; but in this very region Prunus avium 

 is more common. Indeed, Boissier and Tchihatcheif 

 do not appear to have seen P. cerasus even in the 



^ Heer, Tflanzen der Pfahllauten, p. 24, figs. 17, 18, and p. 26, 



* In Perrin, Etudes Prehist. sur la Savoie, p. 22. 

 » Atte Soc. Ital. Sc Nat, vol. vi. 



* For the numerous varieties whicli have common names in France, 

 varying with the ditFerent provinces, see Duhamel, Traite des Arbres, edit 

 2, vol. v., in which are good coloured illustrations. 



* Hohenacker, PlantcB Talysch,, p. 128. 



* Koch, Lendrologie, i. p. 110. ' Ledebour, Fl. Boss., ii. p. 6. 



* Grisebach, SpiciL Fl. Bumel^ p. 86. 



