14 
pliky's natueal histoey. 
[Book XI. 
CHAP. 15. (15.) HOW HONEY IS TESTED. EEIC^UM. TETEA- 
LIX, OE SISIETJM. 
The crop of honey is most abundant if gathered at full 
moon, and it is richest when the weather is fine. In all 
honey, that which flows of itself, like must or oil, has received 
from us the name of acetum?^ The summer honey is the most 
esteemed of all, from the fact of its being made when the 
weather is driest : it is looked upon as the most serviceable 
when made from thyme it is then of a golden colour, and 
of a most delicious flavour. The honey that we see formed 
in the calix of flowers is of a rich and unctuous nature ; that 
which is made from rosemary is thick, while that which is 
candied is little esteemed. Thyme honey does not coagulate, 
and on being touched will draw out into thin viscous threads, 
a thing which is the principal proof of its heaviness. When 
honey show^s no tenacity, and the drops immediately part 
from one another, it is looked upon as a sign of its worthless- 
ness. The other proofs of its goodness are the fine aroma of 
its smell, its being of a sweetness that closely borders on the 
sour,^^ and being glutinous and pellucid. 
Cassius Dionysius is of opinion that in the summer gathering 
the tenth part of the honey ought to be left for the bees if the 
hives should happen to be well filled, and even if not, still in 
the same proportion ; while, on the other hand, if there is but 
little in them, he recommends that it should not be touched 
at all. The people of Attica have fixed the period for com- 
mencing this gathering at the first ripening of the wild fig ; 
others have made it the day that is sacred to Yulcan.*^ 
(16.) The third kind of honey, which is the least esteemed 
of all, is the wild honey, known by the name of ericmum}^ It 
is collected by the bees after the first showers of autumn, 
when the heather*^ alone is blooming in the woods, from which 
circumstance it derives its sandy appearance. It is mostly pro- 
as u Vinegar " is the ordinary meaning. 
Sillig remarks that the whole of this passage is corrupt. 
33 Hence, perhaps, its name of "acetum." 
The people of Italy. 
4^ The 10th of the calends of September, or 23rd August. 
*i Or heath-honey." In the north of England the hives are purposely 
taken to the moors. 
42 <*Erice," "heather," seems to be a preferable reading to "myrice," 
tamarisk,'-' wbick is adopted by Sillig. 
