106  Cassaba  and  Honey  Dew  Melons.  {^bJua^y^T"' 
products.  They  are  classed  by  him  into  ten  groups  which  he  terms : 
canteloups,  melons,  brodes,  sucrins,  melons  d'hiver,  serpents,  forme 
de  concombre,  Chito,  Dudain,  rouges  de  Perse,  and  sauvages,  each 
of  these  groups  containing  varieties  or  nearly  allied  races. 
According  to  the  same  authority  the  species  is  indigenous  to 
Southern  Asia  from  the  foot  of  the  Himalayas  to  Cape  Comorin. 
De  Candolle,2  however,  thinks  that  Cucumis  melo  like  Citrulhts 
Colocynthis  was  once  wild  from  the  west  coast  of  Africa  as  far  as 
India. 
The  Egytians  grew  it  and  the  Romans  and  Greeks  were  at 
least  familiar  with  some  of  its  varieties.3  Columella,  of  Gades,  a 
contemporary  of  Seneca,  an  extensive  writer  on  agriculture  who 
flourished  about  the  middle  of  the  first  century  A.  D.,  refers  to  a 
variety  known  as  the  serpent  melon  in  the  phrase  ut  coluber  .  .  . 
ventre  cnbat  flexo.  Pliny  in  his  writings  refers  to  the  melons  as 
pepones. 
Fig.  2.    Lateral  aspect  of  Cassaba  (to  left)  and  Honey  Dew  (to  right)  Melons. 
Its  introduction  into  China  appears  to  date  from  the  eighth 
century. 
In  1597,  Gerard,4  in  his  Herbal,  described  and  figured  several 
kinds  of  melons.  But  it  was  not  until  1629,  according  to  Oliver  de 
Serres,  that  they  began  to  be  cultivated  on  a  large  scale  in  France. 
Some  of  the  valued  modern  types  of  the  species,  such  as  the 
Cantaloupes,  Dudain,  Pineapple  Melons  and  Netted  Melons  had 
their  origin  in  Persia  and  the  neighboring  Caucasian  regions.  From 
here  they  were  introduced  into  the  Mediterranean  countries,  not- 
