BOOK XV. XV. 52-xvi. 55 



kind, altliough it is the earhest to conie on and 

 hastens to bc picked. 



X\'I. The same charge in the case of pears is cen- P^<^rs. 

 sured by the name of pride ° ; this is a small pear, but 

 ripens very quickly. Of all the varieties of pear, 

 however, the Crustumian is the nicest. Next to this 

 are P'alernian pears, used for perry, as they contain 

 such a large quantity of juice — this is called being 

 * milky ' — and among these are some others of a very 

 dark colour, giveii us by Syria. The names of the 

 remaining varieties are designated diiferently in 

 various different locahties ; but pears that have 

 advertised their producers by the accepted designa- 

 tions of Rome are the Decimian,and the offshoot from 

 it called the Sham Decimian, the very long-stalked 

 one called the DolabeUian, the kind of Pomponian 

 called breast-shaped, the Licerian, the Sevian, and 

 the Turranian, a variety sprung from the Sevian but 

 differing in length of stalk, the Favonian, a red pear 

 a httle larger than the * proud ' pear, the Laterian 

 and the Anician, which comes when autumn is over 

 and has an agreeably acid flavour. One pear is called 

 the Tiberian, which was a special favourite of the 

 Emperor Tiberius ; it is more coloured by the sun 

 and grows to a larger size, but otherwise would be the 

 same as the Licerian. Pears having the name of 

 their place of origin are the Amerian, the latest of all 

 kinds, the Picentine, the Numantine, the Alexan- 

 drian, the Numidian, the Greek, a variety of which is 

 the Tarentine, and the Signine, which some people 

 call the tile-pear from its colour, Hke the onyx-pear 

 and the purple pear ; while named from their scent 

 are the myrrh-pear, the bay-leaf pear and the nard- 

 pear ; named from its season the barley-pear ; from 



325 



