Pliny, more or less discredited as a scientist because he was a compiler and, as the men of science for science sake never forget to point out, at all times of a utilitarian bent of mind, makes a most important contribution to the history of the pear as a domesticated fruit. Indefatigable compiler as he was, few cultivated pears of his or more ancient times could have escaped his notice, and the thread of the utilitarian running through his _Natural History_ makes all the more important what he has to say in this study of the domestication and improvement of the pear. A good authority says that there are sixty manuscript copies of Pliny and eighty different editions, no two of which are exactly alike. Allowing some latitude, therefore, to the translator, Pliny's descriptions of pears run as follows: "For the same reason (as in the case of apples) in the case of pears the name Superba (proud) is given; these are small, but earliest ripe. The Crustumia are most pleasant to all; next to these the Falerna, so called from the wine, since they have such abundance of sap or milk, as it is called; among these are those which others call Syrian from their dark color. Of the rest, some are called by one name in one place and by another in another. Some by their Roman names reveal their discoverers, as the Decimiana, and what they call the Pseudo-Decimiana, derived from that; the Dolabelliana with their long stalk; the Pomponiana of protuberant (full-breasted) shape; the Liceriana; the Seviana and those which spring from these, the Turraniana, distinguished by their length of stalk; the Favoniana of reddish color, a little larger than the Superba; the Lateriana; the Aniciana, which ripens in late autumn and has a pleasant acid flavor. The Tiberiana are so called because the Emperor Tiberius was very fond of them. They get more color from the sun and grow to larger size, but otherwise are the same as the Liceriana. These bear the name of the country from which they come; the Amerina, latest of all; the Picentina; the Numantina; the Alexandria; the Numidiana; the Greek and among them the Tarentine, the Signina, which others from their color call Testacea (like tiles, or brick-colored), like the Onychina (onyx) and Purpurea (purple). From their odor are named the Myrapia (myrrh-pear), Laurea (laurel), Nardina (nard); from their season the Hordearia (barley, at the barley-harvest); from the shape of their neck the Ampullacea (flask). The Coriolana and Bruttia have family-names (Coriolanus, Brutus); the Cucurbitina (gourd-pears) are so called from their bitter taste. The origin of the name is unknown in the case of the Barbarica and the Veneria which they call colored; the Regia, which are attached to a very short stalk; the Patricia; the Voconia, which are green and oblong. Virgil mentions also the Volema, taken from Cato, who names also the Sementiva and the Mustea.[2]"