Another class of surface or skin characters consists in the DOTS and SPECKS, which appear to be very valuable distinctive markings, on account of their uniformity in different varieties. These may be _large_ or _small_, _numerous_ or _scattered_, _darker_ or _lighter_ colored, _prominent_ or _indented_. In shape they are _round_ or _elongated_, and this last is a valuable character because quite rare. Sometimes the dots are characterized by having a green base or areola around them, which is very noticeable, and in some varieties these marks, which are perhaps the stomata of the skin, are surrounded by distinct rings of a gray color, that resemble _ocellations_ or eyes. No reliance can be placed upon the delicate coloring that is often to be seen upon the surface of certain light colored fruits, making rose, red, or purplish tints about these dots, as they are accidental only and not distinctive markings. No one should confound these pores, that are designated as the _dots_, with the superficial and extraneous marks that appear to be the accidental growth of some fungus or lichen, and which are very commonly found upon the surface of many fruits, often giving them a quite pretty appearance that would be seized upon by the fruit painter as a special beauty, unless when so abundant as to produce an unpleasant smutchiness or cloudiness, such as is often found in the product of apple orchards that are situated in low bottom lands, and which peculiarity is attributed to the influence of fogs. The BASIN or APEX of a fruit consists of that portion most distant from the stem. In the apple and pear it is commonly called the blossom end, and is often more or less depressed; hence the term _basin_. In other fruits it is called the point or _apex_. Both are characterized by peculiarities of form that serve as distinctive marks in the description of fruits, and these are characters of considerable value on account of their permanence. In respect to its form, the basin, according to its depth, is called _deep_, fig. 44; _shallow_, fig. 45; _very shallow_, or _medium_. It is _abrupt_, fig. 44, when the edges are steep; it is _narrow_ and _pointed_, fig. 46, or _wide_; it is _regular_, or _wavy_, _wrinkled_, _plaited_, _folded_, _ribbed_ or angular, fig. 46--when these peculiarities exist. [Illustration: Fig. 44.--DEEP AND ABRUPT.] [Illustration: Fig. 45.--SHALLOW.] [Illustration: Fig. 46.--NARROW AND FOLDED.] Some fruits are _russeted_ at this part of their surface only, but this marking is a variable character and is found in greater or less degree in different localities; thus the Rhode Island Greening, to which it belongs, is sometimes almost entirely divested of the russeting, and in other localities the surface is thickly spread with it half way to the stem; the Westfield Seek-no-further, which is slightly marked with this character in the North, often becomes a russet apple in more southern latitudes.