280 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



On account of this Prof. Bessey proposes for them collectively 

 the name "Carpus/' and individually that of '' Carpallary cells," 

 because the relation they bear functionally to the pappus is so 

 nearly like that of the carpus to the phalanges. 



I would also suggest that the little ring spoken of is a portion 

 of the calyx, for all the species of Lactuca examined have a beak 

 or projection to the calyx. This is wanting in the Thistle, or 

 rather has been reduced to a rudimentary form in the shape of 

 this minute ring. 



The "Thistledown" or pappus treated of in this article is 

 simply that of Cnicus altissimus — our common purple thistle ; 

 but its form is characteristic of the genus Cnicus. Formerly 

 thistles were placed under Cirsium, and Cnicus was called a sub- 

 genus, but Bentham and Hooker, in their " Genera Plantarum " 

 have made two distinct genera, taking the different forms of pap- 

 pus as the ground of distinction. Cirsium contains those thistles 

 having barbed pappus, or like the early stage which I have de- 

 scribed, while Cnicus, or the true thistles, have plumose pappus. 

 — Minnie Knapp, Ames, Iowa. 



GENERAL NOTES. 



The Fig- and the Caprifig. — The relation existing between the wild and 

 cultivated figs has long been a pnzzle, and has been variously explained. Graf 

 Solms considers them as two races under one species. Gasparrini describes 

 them as distinct genera. Fritz Miiller thinks they are simply male and female 

 plants, and to this view botanists are inclining. The fact that the presence of 

 the caprifig was needed for the best development of the fig, and that the former 

 was inhabited by an insect which visited the latter if possible, has long been 

 known. The operations of this insect are very interesting, and are given in 

 Nature, by W. B. Hemsley, as follows : 



" The insect that operates in this manner is a small hymenopter, the com- 

 plete annual cycle of development of which takes place within the three crops 

 of fruit of the caprifig, whilst only one generation visits the fig, and that, as will 

 be seen, to no advantage to the insect itself. In order to render what follows 

 easily understood, we will give the present Neapolitan names of the three crops 

 of the caprifig. The fruits that hang through the winter and ripen in April 

 are called mamme. These are followed by the profichi, which ripen in June, 

 and the mammoni, which ripen in August and September. If we closely exam- 

 ine the profichi when fully ripe in June, we see here and there a black-winged 

 insect emerging from the orifice at the top, its hairy body dusted over with pol- 

 len grains that have adhered to it in its passage through the zone of male flow- 

 ers. And if we cut open one of these fruits, we find a considerable number of 



