That the knowledge of this tree is of great antiquity is shown in many ways. It is frequently referred to in ancient Sanskrit writings of a time earlier than that of the Christian Era. In this language it was called “Dadimba.” Homer, in the Odyssey, speaks of its cultivation in the gardens of the kings of Phrygia and Phaecia. There are frequent references to it in the Old Testament. In the directions for making Aaron’s robe we find the following passage: “Upon the skirts of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet,” and again, “They made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates.” Hiram, in the building of Solomon’s house, used the design of the Pomegranate. In the seventh chapter of the First Book of Kings we find “the pomegranates were two hundred, in rows round about upon the other chapiter,” and in another verse we are told that they were of brass. Moses spoke of the promised land as a land of “wheat, barley and vines, fig-trees and pomegranates.” Solomon indicates that this fruit was cultivated in his time as he speaks of an “orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits.” The Pomegranate is frequently represented in the ancient sculptures of the Assyrians and of the Egyptians. The Pomegranate belongs to the family of plants called Lythraceae. This family has about three hundred and fifty species which are widely distributed, but are most abundant in tropical regions, especially in America. In describing the tree Dr. Oliver R. Willis gives the following characteristics: “Branches straight, strong, sub-angular, armed near the ends with spines; young shoots and buds red. Leaves opposite or fascicled, short-stalked, and without stipules. Flowers large, solitary, or two or three together in the axils of the leaves, near the ends of the branchlets. A beautiful object for planted grounds.” [Illustration: ] The color of the flowers, which develop on the ends of the younger branches, is a deep and rich scarlet or crimson. Many variations have been produced by growing the plants from seeds and one of these bears white flowers. The petals are rounded and usually crumpled. The fruit, which is a berry about the size of an ordinary orange, is when fresh usually of a reddish yellow color, becoming brownish in drying. The rind is thick and leathery, and encloses a quantity of pulp which is filled with a refreshing juice that is acid. It is of a pinkish or reddish color, and encloses the numerous angular seeds. Probably the chief value of the plant lies in the use of the fruit as a relish, though the rind of the fruit and the bark of the root are used in medicine. The bark contains a large amount of tannin and from it there is also obtained a bright yellow dye, which is used to produce the yellow Levant Morocco. In regions without frost the tree is often grown for ornamental purposes. FISHES AND FISH-CULTURE AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS.