BOOK XXI. Lxviii. iii-Lxix. 114 



out July. and on the third day dried in the sun iintil 

 it turns white. Every day however before sunset 

 it should be put back under cover, since night dews 

 are harmtul to marsh plants after they have been 

 cut down. 



LXIX. Mago gives Hke instructions about the lutshes. 

 rush also that they call mariscus ; for weaving mats 

 he recommends that it too be gathered in June and 

 up to the middle of July, giving the same instructions 

 for drying it which I have mentioned in their proper 

 place when deahng with sedge." He distinguishes 

 another kind of rush, which I find is called the 

 marine rush and by the Greeks oxyschoenos. There 

 are three kinds of it : the pointed, barren rush, 

 which the Greeks call the male, or oxys, while the 

 other two are female, and bear a black seed. One 

 of these, called by the Greeks melancranis, is thicker 

 and more bushy than the first ; the third, called 

 holoschoenus, being even more so. Of these melan- 

 cranis is found apart from other kinds of rush, but 

 oxys and holoschoenus grow on the same turf. The 

 most useful for wicker-work is holoschoenus, because 

 it is pliant and fleshy ; it bears a fruit like eggs 

 sticking to one another. The rush we have called 

 male is self-reproduced, the head being bent down 

 into the earth, but melancranis is reproduced from 

 its seed. Except for this, the roots of every kind 

 of rush die every year. Rushes are used for fish- 

 baskets, for the finer sort of wicker-work, and for the 

 wicks of lamps, the pith being especially useful ; 

 and they grow to such a size near the maritime 

 Alps that when the hollow is cut open they measure 

 almost an inch across, while in Egypt some are as 

 narrow as the holes in a sieve,'' and of a length not 



243 



