This pear is supposed to have been raised by Van Mons at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was placed on sale at Brussels about 1819. The variety was first given the name Doyenné de Mérode in honor of the Comté de Mérode of Waterloo, Belgium. In 1836, however, the name was changed to Doyenné Boussock. The catalog of the Horticultural Society of London shows that it was received in England in 1842. William Kenrick, on his return from Europe in the spring of 1841, brought the variety to America. In 1856 the American Pomological Society added this pear to its fruit-list. Tree very large, vigorous, upright-spreading, tall, hardy, productive; trunk thick, shaggy; branches stocky, shaggy, grayish-brown; branchlets long, with long internodes, light brown tinged with red, overspread with ash-gray, smooth, glabrous, with few elongated, raised, inconspicuous lenticels. Leaf-buds small, short, sharply pointed, plump, free; leaf-scars with prominent shoulders. Leaves 3-1/2 in. long, 1-7/8 in. wide, leathery; apex abruptly pointed; margin very finely serrate; petiole 1-1/2 in. long, slender. Flower-buds small, long and narrow, conical, free, singly on very short spurs; flowers early, showy, 1-5/8 in. across, in dense clusters, average 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1-1/8 in. long, thick, pubescent. Fruit ripe in September; large, 3 in. long, 2-3/4 in. wide, uniform, obtuse-obovate-pyriform, symmetrical; stem 1 in. long, very thick; cavity obtuse, rather shallow, broad, often russeted, furrowed, lipped; calyx large, open; lobes separated at the base, broad, acute; basin shallow, wide, obtuse, gently furrowed and wrinkled; skin thin, tender, smooth except for the russet nettings; color pale yellow, occasionally with a mottled pinkish-red blush on the exposed cheek, more or less netted with russet; dots numerous, small, russet, conspicuous; flesh white, tender and melting, buttery, very juicy, briskly acid; quality good. Core large, closed, axile, with meeting core-lines; calyx-tube very short, wide, broadly conical; seeds black, narrow, long, flattened, often abortive. [Illustration: DOYENNÉ DU COMICE] DOYENNÉ DU COMICE =1.= _Mag. Hort._ =18=:168, fig. 16. 1852. =2.= _Ann. Pom. Belge_ =8=:47, Pl. 1860. =3.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 68. 1862. =4.= _Pom. France_ =2=: No. 58, Pl. 58. 1864. =5.= Mas _Le Verger_ =3=: Pt. 1, 7, fig. 2. 1866-73. =6.= _Downing Fr. Trees Am._ 744, fig. 1869. =7.= _Jour. Hort._ N. S. =17=:440, fig. 1869. =8.= Leroy _Dict. Pom._ =2=:60, fig. 1869. =9.= _Hogg Fruit Man._ 565. 1884. =10.= Rev. Hort. 447, Pl. 1908. _Beurré Robert._ =11.= Leroy _Dict. Pom._ =1=:418, fig. 1867. =12.= _Ibid._ =2=:775. 1869. _Comice._ =13.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 36. 1883. _Vereins Dechantsbirne._ =14.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 293. 1889. =15.= Gaucher _Pom. Prak. Obst._ No. 68, Pl. 36. 1894. =16.= _Deut. Obstsorten_ =5=: Pt. 14, Pl. 1909.