Caprrficafioit of (he Fiij. 



99 



Fli.. l."i. — PkoDOXI'.S COI.CIUADKX.SI.S 



front wing, hair-line umlerneatli 



a, left 

 ishovving 



I coutiMit myself with illu.stratiiig in tliis connection a few of 



tlie more distinctly mavkeil species, Figs. 13, 14, 15, and 16. 



T\\v genus interests us most, however, in indicating how Pro- 



nuba witli all her abnormal, 



l)eculiarities, has been evolved ; 



for though we have striking 



ditierences in habit and mode 



of development, of larva, pui)a, 



and imago, l.)etween Pronul)a 



and Prodoxus, yet the affinities 



are equally striking, and the 



two genera exemplify in an ex- 



Cei)tional degree the power of natunUsize: 6, male genitalia, dorsal view 



natural selection to intensify - x lo: c, do., lateral view -x is. 

 hal>its and structures in o[)posing directions according to the 

 requirements of the species. Prodoxus is practically dependent 



upon Pronuba. for if the latter 

 did not fructify the plant, the 

 former would have in time no 

 tiower stems to breed in, and 

 while Prodoxus has gone on, 

 generation after generation 

 w i t h comparatively little 

 change, Pronidja has Ijecome 

 profoundly specialized to fit it 

 for a more specific purpose. 



Fiii. Hi.— PiiDPoxrs RETituLATL's : Female 

 with wing.-! expanded— hair-line .'showing 

 natural size. 



Caprification of the Fig. 



It was my intention here to explain to you some interesting 

 facts as to the caprification of the fig and the remarkable struct- 

 ural peculiarities and influence of the caprifig insects. It is, 

 however, a somewhat complicated subject, and I could not within 

 the time allotted me do justice both tt) it and the matter of Yucca 

 })ollination. As an indication, however, of how profoundly 

 modified in this particular case the plant and the insect have 

 become in their mutual adaptation, I may state that the perfect 

 Smyrna fig, the most esteemed of the edible species, can be pro- 

 duced only l)y the intervention of tlie Bladophar/n psenes, and 

 that Dr. D. D. Cunningham has recently shown, in the Annals 

 of the Royal Botanical Gardens of Calcutta, vol. I, Appendix L, 

 1889, l)y repeated examinations of the fruit of Ficas roxlmrghU, 

 that jtoUination. in the ordinary meaaini; of that term, is, in that 



