142 THE CLASSICAL PLANTS OF SICILY. 
also engraft a shoot or two of the wild fig-tree on the domes- 
tic sort, which answers the same purpose. ‘The caprification 
of figs is practised in Santorini nearly in the manner de- 
scribed by Tournefort, except that the term v must be 
substituted for that of 22e; and the following particulars 
should be added :—the ég/vex. fructifies first in December and 
January, when it produces the Prodotes; and secondly, in 
March, when it produces the Lates, both which are used for ca~ 
prifying."—(JValpoles "Turkey, note, xxiii. p. 241.) Pliny 
describes this practice, lib, xv. cap. 19. and lib. xvii. cap. 273 
and "Theophrastus gives an accurate account of caprification, 
—ipwaouos lib. ii. cap. 9. The insects of the wild figs he 
names 4» and xirge, the Cynips Psenes of Linnzeus. They 
are mentioned in this verse from Aristophanes. Av, 590. 
Eid os vires xod Meg aks Tg cuxas où xarédovrecs 
Sixwor dvdgeg. - Theocr. Idyl. x. v. 45, Useless Men, i. e., be- 
cause the wood of the fig-tree was accounted of no use.— 
Briggs. Theophrastus says the wood was soft, fleshy, and 
porous, lib. i. cap. 8. It was sometimes used for making 
statues, as "Theocritus, in Epigram iv. v. 2. describes, cxi 
tughosis &orryMugie čóavov. 
So Horace makes a statue say.—(Serm. viii. 1.) 
Olim truncus eram Ficudnus, inutile lignum. 
Dr. Presl enumerates no less than forty varieties of the fig 
(ficu) which are cultivated in Sicily. The dried fruit is ex- 
ported. 
The fig-tree will grow in any soil, but it prefers a dry and 
rocky ground. 
119. F. Carica; var. 8. sylvestris. — Wild Fig-tree. 
Ayeia vzn. Diosc. lib. i. cap. 185.— Egros. Theoph. lib. 
iv, cap. 16. The figs are named ipw. So Athen. lib. iii., * 
Bévdgov 7j &yola, Sian èE $e và ima. According to Theophrastus, 
(lib. v. cap. 1.) the wood of this tree was excellent for £y% 
voAwr£A3. Theocritus states that the branches of it, 577*« 
