34 



POL YG AM I A. 



The annexed figure is the representation 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 an- 

 other 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, 

 and in the months of October and November gradu- 

 ally falls away j the second sort makes its appearance 

 towards the end of September, and remains on die 

 tree till May^ in which month a third sort of trait puts 

 forth, much larger than either of the others, which by 

 the Greeks is called Orni. These fruits have all a 

 sleek even skin, of a deep green colour, and con- 

 tain in their dry mealy inside, blossoms, some with 

 stamina only, and some with only pistilla, enclosed in 

 the same Fig, placed upon distinct footstalks, the for- 

 mer above the latter," but none of the fruits are good 

 to eat ; nevertheless all of them are said to be essen- 

 tial 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. 



u In the Illustrations of the different pistilla of different 

 flowers, N° l. is a pistillum enlarged of the Ons'i; and N u 2. 

 apistillum of the cultivated Fig, 



