Pavements are an invention of the Greeks, who also practised the art of painting them, till they were superseded by mosaics.[1] In this last branch of art, the highest excellence has been attained by Sosus,[2] who laid, at Pergamus, the mosaic pavement known as the "Asarotos œcos;"[3] from the fact that he there represented, in small squares of different colours, the remnants of a banquet lying upon the pavement, and other things which are usually swept away with the broom, they having all the appearance of being left there by accident. There is a dove also, greatly admired, in the act of drinking, and throwing the shadow of its head upon the water; while other birds are to be seen sunning and pluming themselves, on the margin of a drinking-bowl.