It is not proved that the ancient Egyptians cultivated the melon. The fruit figured by Lepsius[1282] is not recognizable. If the cultivation had been customary and ancient in that country, the Greeks and Romans would have early known it. Now, it is doubtful whether the _Sikua_ of Hippocrates and Theophrastus, or the _Pepon_ of Dioscorides, or the _Melopepo_ of Pliny, was the melon. The passages referring to it are brief and insignificant; Galen[1283] is less obscure, when he says that the inside of the _Melopepones_ is eaten, but not of the _Pepones_. There has been much discussion about those names,[1284] but we want facts more than words. The best proof which I have been able to discover of the existence of the melon among the Romans is a very accurate representation of a fruit in the beautiful mosaic of fruits in the Vatican. Moreover, Dr. Comes certifies that the half of a melon is represented in a painting at Herculaneum.[1285] The species was probably introduced into the Græco-Roman world at the time of the Empire, in the beginning of the Christian era. It was probably of indifferent quality, to judge from the silence or the faint praise of writers in a country where _gourmets_ were not wanting. Since the Renaissance, an improved cultivation and relations with the East have introduced better varieties into our gardens. We know, however, that they often degenerate either from cold or bad conditions of soil, or by crossing with inferior varieties of the species. +Water-Melon+—_Citrullus vulgaris_, Schrader; _Cucurbita Citrullus_, Linnæus. The origin of the water-melon was long mistaken or unknown. According to Linnæus, it was a native of Southern Italy.[1286] This assertion was taken from Matthiole, without observing that this author says it was a cultivated species. Seringe,[1287] in 1828, supposed it came from India and Africa, but he gives no proof. I believed it came from Southern Asia, because of its very general cultivation in this region. It was not known in a wild state. At length it was found indigenous in tropical Africa, on both sides of the equator, which settles the question.[1288] Livingstone[1289] saw districts literally covered with it, and the savages and several kinds of wild animals eagerly devoured the wild fruit. They are sometimes, but not always, bitter, and this cannot be detected from the appearance of the fruit. The negroes strike it with an axe, and taste the juice to see whether it is good or bad. This diversity in the wild plant, growing in the same climate and in the same soil, is calculated to show the small value of such a character in cultivated _Cucurbitaceæ_. For the rest, the frequent bitterness of the water-melon is not at all extraordinary, as the most nearly allied species is _Citrullus Colocynthis_. Naudin obtained fertile hybrids from crossing the bitter water-melon, wild at the Cape, with a cultivated species which confirms the specific unity suggested by the outward appearance.