1 80 SINGING-BIKDS AND FLOWERS, ETC. 



centre. This grub attacks the fruit before it has com- 

 menced to ripen, and making straight for the then soft 

 kernel, lodges there. Of course the fruit shrivels, ripens 

 prematurely in a sort of way, and falls to the ground, 

 much to the gratification of the copper pheasant. 



Pears there are, beautiful to look at, well-sized, well 

 grown, and exempt from the depredations of any insect ; 

 but nothing will induce them to ripen. The persim- 

 mon, or Kaki apple, Biospyros Kaki, stands almost alone 

 as a fruit which does come to perfection. It is as large 

 as a good-sized orange, oval, and has a very thin skin, 

 which easily peels off a soft opaque pulp, not at all to 

 be despised when just ripe. The tree is similar to our 

 apple-tree, of moderate size, and grows much in the same 

 way. This fruit is dried and preserved much as figs 

 are, and, when thus dried, resembles the fig in appear- 

 ance and taste. In the Kii peninsula alone have I seen 

 oranges grown thoroughly and profitably. Plums, harder 

 than horse-chestnuts, and equally tasteless, are appre- 

 ciated by the natives, the horse-chestnut I found here 

 being used as food. It is first soaked in water for 

 some days, and then boiled and eaten. The Spanish 

 chestnut grows as a shrub as well as a timber tree ; the 

 fruit is small, and not worth picking; it is, however, 

 much relished by children and apes. The former roam 

 about the hills searching for the nut, drive away the 



