(10.) The largest fruit, and, indeed, the one that hangs at the greatest height, is the pine-nut. It contains within a number of small kernels, enclosed in arched beds, and covered with a coat of their own of rusty iron-colour; Nature thus manifesting a marvellous degree of care in providing its seeds with a soft receptacle. Another variety of this nut is the terentina,[1748] the shell of which may be broken with the fingers; and hence it becomes a prey to the birds while still on the tree. A third, again, is known as the “sappinia,[1749]” being the produce of the cultivated pitch-tree: the kernels are enclosed in a skin more than a shell, which is so remarkably soft that it is eaten together with the fruit. A fourth variety is that known as the “pityis;” it is the produce of the pinaster,[1750] and is remarkable as a good specific for coughs. The kernels are sometimes boiled in honey[1751] among the Taurini, who then call them “aquiceli.” The conquerors at the Isthmian games are crowned with a wreath of pine-leaves. CHAP. 10. (11.)—THE QUINCE. FOUR KINDS OF CYDONIA, AND FOUR VARIETIES OF THE STRUTHEA. Next in size after these are the fruit called by us “cotonea,”[1752] by the Greeks “Cydonia,”[1753] and first introduced from the island of Crete. These fruit bend the branches with their weight, and so tend to impede the growth of the parent tree. The varieties are numerous. The chrysomelum[1754] is marked with indentations down it, and has a colour inclining to gold; the one that is known as the “Italian” quince, is of a paler complexion, and has a most exquisite smell: the quinces of Neapolis, too, are held in high esteem. The smaller varieties of the quince which are known as the “struthea,”[1755] have a more pungent smell, but ripen later than the others; that called the “musteum,”[1756] ripens the soonest of all. The cotoneum engrafted[1757] on the strutheum, has produced a peculiar variety, known as the “Mulvianum,” the only one of them all that is eaten raw.[1758] At the present day all these varieties are kept shut up in the antechambers of great men,[1759] where they receive the visits of their courtiers; they are hung, too, upon the statues[1760] that pass the night with us in our chambers. There is a small wild[1761] quince also, the smell of which, next to that of the strutheum, is the most powerful; it grows in the hedges. CHAP. 11.—SIX VARIETIES OF THE PEACH. Under the head of apples,[1762] we include a variety of fruits, although of an entirely different nature, such as the Persian[1763] apple, for instance, and the pomegranate, of which, when speaking of the tree, we have already enumerated[1764] nine varieties. The pomegranate has a seed within, enclosed in a skin; the peach has a stone inside. Some among the pears, also, known as “libralia,”[1765] show, by their name, what a remarkable weight they attain.