Chap. 19.] 
YAEIETIES OF THE Fia. 
307 
from the floor. Grapes are effectually protected against the 
attacks of wasps by being sprinkled with oiP^* spirted from the 
mouth. Of palm-dates we have already spoken.^* 
CHAP, 19. (18.) TWENTY-NINE YAEIETIES OF THE PIG. 
Of all the remaining fruits that are included under the 
name of pomes/' the fig*^ is the largest : some, indeed, equal 
the pear, even, in size. We have already mentioned, while 
treating of the exotic fruits, the miraculous productions of 
Egypt and Cyprus^^ in the way of figs. The fig of Mount 
Ida^^ is red, and the size of an olive, rounder however, and 
like a medlar in flavour ; they give it the name of Alex- 
andrian in those parts. The stem is a cubit in thickness ; it is 
branchy, has a tough, pliant wood, is entirely destitute of all 
milky juice,^^ and has a green bark, and leaves like tjiose of the 
linden tree, but soft to the touch. Onesicritus states that in 
Hyrcania the figs are much sweeter than with us, and that the 
trees are more prolific, seeing that a single tree will bear as 
much as two hundred and seventy modii^^ of fruit. The fig 
has been introduced into Italy from other countries, Chalcis 
and Chios, for instance, the varieties being very numerous : 
there are those from Lydia also, which are of a purple colour, 
and the kind known as the mamillana,"^^ which is very 
similar to the Lydian. The callistruthise are very little supe- 
rior to the last in flavour ; they are the coldest by nature of 
all the figs. As to the African fig, by many people preferred 
to any other, it has been made the subject of very consider- 
able discussion, as it is a kind that has been introduced very 
recently into Africa, though it bears the name of that country. 
with which it adheres. In all these methods, little attention would seem 
to be paid to the retention of the flavour of the fruits. 
A detestable practice, Fee says, as the oil makes an indelible mark 
on the grape, and gives it an abominable flavour. It is the best method 
to put the fruit in bags of paper or hair. 
See B. xiii. c. 19. 
There are about forty varieties now known. 
B. xiii. c. 14, 15. These are the Ficus sycomorus of Linnaeus. 
^'^ In Troas ; called the Alexandrian fig, from the city of Alexandria • 
there. Fee doubts if this was really a fig, and suggests that it might be 
the fruit of a variety of Diospyros. 
No fig-tree now known is destitute of this. 
^9 Fee treats this as an exaggeration. 
From " mamilla," a teat. 
X 2 
