34 



The annexed figure is the epresentation of the 

 common Levant Fig, which has within it blossoms 

 bearing only pistilla, and called by way of pre-emi- 

 nence the Cultivated Fig, to distinguish it from 

 another species called Caprificus, or Wild Fig. 



The wild Fig tree bears successively in the 

 same year three sorts of figs. The first appears 

 in August j and in the months of October and 

 November gradually falls away : the second sort makes 

 its appearance towards the end of September, and 

 remains on the tree till May, in which month a third 

 sort of fruit puts forth, much larger than either of the 

 others, which by the Greeks is called Orni. These 

 fruits have all a sleek even skin, and of a deep green 

 colour, and contain in their dry mealy inside, blos- 

 soms, some with stamina only, and some with only 

 pistilla, enclosed in the same fig, placed upon distinct 

 foot- stalks, the former above the latter, but none of 

 the fruits are good to eat; nevertheless all of them 

 are said to be essential to the breeding and nourishing 

 in succession a little gnat, on which the maturity of 

 the cultivated fig depends. 



From the earliest antiquity the use of the wild fig 

 tree to ripen the cultivated fig was well known, and 

 great care was taken to propagate the Caprificus for 

 that purpose, as at this day it is in the Archipelago. 



As the flowers of the fig of every species are all 

 closely shut up in their respective receptacles, it has 

 been an interesting subject of enquiry to know how 

 the seeds of the cultivated fig, bearing only pistilla, 



