In spite of the abundance of plums cultivated formerly by the Romans, no kind is found represented in the frescoes at Pompeii.[1051] Neither has _Prunus domestica_ been found among the remains of the lake-dwellings of Italy, Switzerland, and Savoy, where, however, stones of _Prunus insititia_ and _spinosa_ have been discovered. From these facts, and the small number of words attributable to this species in Greek authors, it may be inferred that its half-wild or half-naturalized state dates in Europe from two thousand years at most. Prunes and damsons are ranked with this species. +Bullace+—_Prunus insititia_, Linnæus;[1052] _Pflauenbaum_ and _Haferschlehen_ in German. This kind of plum grows wild in the south of Europe.[1053] It has also been found in Cilicia, Armenia, to the south of the Caucasus, and in the province of Talysch near the Caspian Sea.[1054] It is especially in Turkey in Europe and to the south of the Caucasus that it appears to be truly wild. In Italy and in Spain it is perhaps less so, although trustworthy authors who have seen the plant growing have no doubt about it. In the localities named north of the Alps, even as far as Denmark, it is probably naturalized from cultivation. The species is commonly found in hedges not far from dwellings, and apparently not truly wild. All this agrees with archæological and historical data. The ancient Greeks distinguished the _Coccumelea_ of their country from those of Syria,[1055] whence it is inferred that the former were _Prunus insititia_. This seems the more likely that the modern Greeks call it _coromeleia_.[1056] The Albanians say _corombile_,[1057] which has led some people to suppose an ancient Pelasgian origin. For the rest, we must not insist upon the common names of the plum which each nation may have given to one or another species, perhaps also to some cultivated variety, without any rule. The names which have been much commented upon in learned works generally, appear to me to apply to any plum or plum tree without having any very defined meaning. No stones of _P. insititia_ have yet been found in the _terra-mare_ of Italy, but Heer has described and given illustrations of some which were found in the lake-dwellings of Robenhausen.[1058] The species does not seem to be now indigenous in this part of Switzerland, but we must not forget that, as we saw in the history of flax, the lake-dwellers of the canton of Zürich, in the age of stone, had communications with Italy. These ancient Swiss were not hard to please in the matter of food, for they also gathered the berries of the blackthorn, which are, as we think, uneatable. It is probable that they ate them cooked. +Apricot+—_Prunus armeniaca_, Linnæus; _Armenica vulgaris_, Lamarck.