[2367] See B. xxi. c. 4. Ovid, Fasti, B. v. l. 337, speaks of the revellers at drunken banquets binding their hair with the philyra.
[2368] “Teredo.” If he means under this name to include the tinea as well, the assertion is far too general, as this wood is eaten away by insects, though more slowly than the majority of the non-resinous woods. It is sometimes perforated quite through by the larvæ of the byrrhus, our death-watch.
[2369] This is incorrect. It attains a very considerable height, and sometimes an enormous size. The trunk is known to grow to as much as forty or fifty feet in circumference.
[2370] The maple is much less in size than what the lime or linden really is.
[2372] Fée says there are but five varieties of the maple known in France. He doubts whether the common maple, the Acer campestre of Linnæus, was known to the ancients.
[2373] Fée identifies it with the Acer pseudo-platanus of Linnæus, the Acer montanum candidum of C. Bauhin. This tree is not uncommon in Italy.
[2374] “Acer pavonaceum:” “peacock maple.” He gives a similar account of the spots on the wood of the citrus, B. xiii. c. [19].
[2375] Or “thick-veined” maple.
[2376] Supposed by Fée to be the Acer Monspessulanus of Linnæus, also the Acer trilobum of Linnæus.