Wasps and Such. 157 



flowers ; the edible fig is always female. The caprifig 

 produces three crops of fruit, one called ' profichi," one 



' mammoni," and one called " mamme," which hangs on 

 the branches all winter. The fig insects winter over in 

 the " mamme," lay their eggs in the ' profichi," and 

 develop a generation within it, each living in the swelling 

 of a modified and infertile flower. They come out 

 covered with pollen. They try to get rid of it, but in 

 vain. The fig-tree .has quite a little sense, too. It be- 

 longs to the Charity Organization Society. If these in- 

 sects want to board with it all winter they must expect 

 to do a chore or two when asked, carrying pollen and 

 such, and there is to be no getting out of it. So the 

 pollen clings to them like a good fellow, and when they 

 go into the flowers of the young Smyrna fig it goes along, 

 too, and se'ts the seeds. That is about all that is known 

 of the fig insects. What becomes of them during the 

 second crop of caprifigs, the ' mammoni," is something 

 that remains to be learned. 



Another insect of this order that has done some service 

 to the state is the chalcis fly, a parasite on the caterpillar 

 that used to damage the cotton crop of this country to 

 the extent of fifteen million dollars a year. The almost 

 complete destruction of this expensive pest is due to the 

 chalcis. 



It is a pity that the little parasitic wasp, Pimpla, could 

 not have arranged it better, else the tussock moth that 

 plays such havoc among the foliage trees of the Eastern 

 States would soon be only a memory. But what is called 



' the balance of nature " interferes, as it frequently does, 

 to point out to us that we are not the whole show by any 

 means, and that just because we like to have nice shade 

 trees is no good reason for our being permitted to have 

 them. Other folks have to be considered, too. This is 



