346 
pliny's fatueal histoey. 
[Book XVI. 
their several localities. The quereus^^ and the robur^^ we 
see growing everywhere, but not so with the jbscuIus while 
a fourth kind, known as the cerrus,^^ is not so much as known 
throughout the greater part of Italy. We shall distinguish 
them, therefore, by their characteristic features, and when 
circumstances render it necessary, shall give their Greek names 
as well. 
CHAP. 7. (6.) THE BEECH. 
The acorn of the beech is similar in appearance to a kernel, 
enclosed in a shell of triangular shape. The leaf is thin and 
one of the very lightest, is similar in appearance to that of the 
poplar, and turns yellow with remarkable rapidity. Erom the 
middle of the leaf, and upon the upper side of it, there mostly 
shoots a little green berry, with a pointed top.^^ The beech is 
particularly agreeable to rats and mice ; and hence it is, that 
where this tree abounds, those creatures are sure to be plen- 
tifal also. The leaves are also very fattening for dormice, 
and good for thrushes too. Almost all trees bear an average 
crop but once in two years ; this is the case with the beech 
more particularly. 
CHAP. 8. THE OTHEE ACOENS — WOOD FOE FUEL. 
The other trees that bear acorns, properly so called, are the 
*2 The word quercus " is frequently used as a general name for the 
oak ; but throughout the present Eook it is most employed as meaning a 
distinct variety of the oak, one of the larger kinds, Fee says, and answering 
to the Quercus racemosa of Lamarck, the Quercus rohur of Linnaeus, and 
the Eouvre of the French. 
This also has been much employed as a general name for the oak ; but 
here, and in other parts of this Book, it is applied to one variety. Fee 
thinks that it answers to the Quercus sessiliflora of Smith, sometimes also 
called rouvre" by the French. 
The Quercus sesculus of Linnaeus. It is not improbable that this oak 
is a different tree from the "^sculus " of Horace and Virgil, which was 
perhaps either a walnut, or a variety of the beech. 
^5 It has been suggested that this is the same with the Quercus cerrus of 
Linnscus, and the Quercus crinita of Lamarck, tjie gland of which is placed 
in a prickly cupule. It is rarely found in France, but is often to be met 
with in Piedmont and the Apennines. 
46 The Fagus silvatica of Lamarck. Its Latin name, "fagus," is supposed 
to have been derived from the Greek 0a yw, " to eat." An oil is extracted 
from the acorns or nuts, that is much used in some parts of France. 
He speaks probably of one of the galls which are found attached to 
the leaves of the forest trees. 
