OF ACCOMPANYING ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 533 



" 192 A. D." ( . . . . Clint.), exhibition in Rome of the marvels of different countries, including 

 animals previously unknown from India, Ethiopia, the South, and the extreme North, witnessed by 

 the historian Herodian. The rhetor Adrianus of Tyre appointed in this year secretary to Com- 

 modus. 



Cucumis utilissimus of Tropical Hindustan and Burmah. The winter melon is called in the 

 Taleef Shereef "kukrie," in Hindustanee "kukree" or "kakrie" (J. F. Wats.), in Telinga " doskai," 

 in Bengalee "kankoor kurktee " (Drur.), in the environs of Bombay " kunkarai " or "kakri" (Gra- 

 ham), by Muslims "kissa" and regarded by Royle as possibly the " kshaym " of Num. xi. 5 (Kitt. 

 bibl. cycl): the T6T PA TKOYP A of Herodian epim. 124, —or " tStraggouron " of Suidas, Constan- 

 tinus Porphyrogenitus, Moscopulus, and the Greek translation of Rhazes, may be compared : the 

 " tStraggoura " or " laggoura " is described by Symeon Sethus as a large edible kind (Turn.) ; the 

 " cucumis turcicus " is described by Fuchsius pi. 698 ; the " himoniko " was seen by Forskal " in gar- 

 dens at Constantinople ; " and fruit of the winter melon, by myself on Malta, regarded there as a 

 variety only of C. melo. Eastward, the " ervaru " of Susrutas sutr. 46 to chik. 18 is referred by Hessler 

 to C. utilissimus, observed by Graham extensively cultivated in the environs of Bombay ; by Rox- 

 burgh, and Wight, under cultivation as far as Bengal and by far the most useful species, its fruit 

 having "much the flavour of the melon, and will keep for several months," the seeds are ground into 

 a meal eaten by the natives, yield besides a bland oil used in food and in lamps, and in the Guntoor 

 Circar form a considerable branch of commerce (Drur.) ; was observed by Mason indigenous in Bur- 

 mah, and one of the cucumbers "consumed in immense quantities " by the natives. 



"Dec. 31st" (Dio, and Clint.), Commodus succeeded by Pertinax, eighteenth Roman emperor. 

 The name of Pertinax occurs on coins issued in Egypt during his three months' reign. 



" 193. March 28th " (Dio, and Clint.), Didius Julianus by purchase, now nineteenth Roman 

 emperor. His name has not been found in Egypt. 



The historian Dion Cassius one of the Roman senators who voted the death of Didius Julianus. 



"June 1st" (Dio, Herodian, and Clint), accession of Septimius Severus, twentieth Roman 

 emperor. His hieroglyphic ovals occur at Esneh (Glid. analect). 



" 194 A. D." (Dio, and Clint.), civil war ; Byzantium besieged by Severus ; Aemilianus defeated 

 and slain ; and shortly afterwards, Pescennius Niger himself defeated at Issus, and put to death at 

 Antioch. The hieroglyphic ovals, once supposed to be those of Pescennius Niger, are referred by 

 Lepsius k. pi. 67 to an "undetermined Caesar." 



The archaeologist Athenaeus at this time writing. Also Clemens of Alexandria, a Christian 

 presbyter (Clint.). 



Clemens of Alexandria mentions a pyramid in India erected over relics of a god (Budha), and 

 worshipped by " semnoi " venerable persons — (arhats according to Burnouf introd. 295. Compare 

 "samanaioi "). 



" 195, summer" (Dio, Eutrop., and Clint.), crossing the Euphrates, Severus carried on war and 

 partially subdued the Parthians and Arabs. 



"196, A. D." (Dio, and Clint.), after three years siege, Byzantium captured: and Severus, at 

 the time in Mesopotamia, returned to Rome. 



" 197, Feb. 19th" (Spartian., and Clint.), another aspirant Clodius Albinus defeated and slain 

 near Lugdunum (Lyons), and the civil war brought to a close. Soon afterwards, Severus again pro- 

 ceeded into Asia. 



"The same year" (Euseb., "Hieronym., and Clint.), the question in regard to Easter. And the 

 churches of Asia, persisting in celebrating the day after the Jewish Passover, " as taught by the 

 apostles and their immediate successors," put out of communion by Victor bishop of Rome. To this 

 measure, the other churches refused their assent; as appears by letters from Narcissus "thirtieth" 

 bishop of Jerusalem, Polycrates bishop of Ephesus, Irenaeus bishop of Lugdunum, Bacchylus bishop 

 of Corinth, Palmas bishop of Pontus, Theophilus bishop of Caesarea, Cassius bishop of Tyre, and 

 Clarus bishop of Ptolemais : — the original mode of observing Easter continued among the so-called 

 " Quartadecimans " until the meeting of the Council of Nice. 



This interference by Victor is regarded as the beginning of Catholicism, of deciding theological 



him is not an Indigofera (A. Dec). Indigo is one of the pigments employed in ancient Mexican 

 paintings (Humb. nouv. Esp. iv. 10) ; is enumerated by F. Columbus among the productions of Aiti 

 or Hayti (Humb.) ; was found by J. Acosta 175 largely exported from Mexico; and farther South, 

 among specimens of ancient Peruvian cloth exhumed at Pachacamac, I remarked some that appeared 

 to be dyed with indigo. Indigofera sp., found by Sloane ii. pi. 176 growing spontaneously in the 

 West Indies, is regarded as an ancient plant by Hughes 203, and Maycock 304 ; and two or even 

 three apparently indigenous species are according to A. Decandolle cultivated in America. 



