198 ON THE CAPRIFICATION OF THE FIG. 



many had lost all their figs by the middle of August, some re- 

 tained a few ; they had fared like other trees of tli'e same sort 

 not caprified and placed at a considerable distance. Among the 

 fallen fruils some contained the insect, others did not; and it 

 was the same with those that remained on the trees and were 

 advancing towards maturity. Amongst these Colombro figs 

 were several trees of the Sampiero, of which four were capiified. 

 The result was that two of them lost all their figs, botli tliose at 

 the base of the fruit-branclies, called pedagnuoli, and those of 

 the extremities, called cimaruoli. The other two trees scarcely 

 ripened a fourth part, and tliose chiefly cimaruoli, and the fly 

 had penetrated into some of the fallen fruits. It must be noted, 

 moreover, that the above fig-trees were all of the same age, in 

 the same soil, with tlie same exposure, and all more or less 

 had brouglit to maturity a good early crop. The same experi- 

 ment, repeated at Ischia on two trees of the Colombro, produced 

 no result. For if these trees were pretty well loaded, the same 

 tiling took place in many otlier parts of the island without capri- 

 fication, and not unfrequently in the same places, were fig-trees 

 near to each other, some with and some witliout fruits, without 

 anything appearing to show a probable reason for such diversity. 



§ 9. Does the caprifig, by the assistance of its insect, fecundate 

 the female flowers of the late figs ? 



As soon as botanists learnt from the observations of Pontedera 

 that the flowers of the difierent varieties of the domestic fig were 

 always all female, as well in the early as in the late flowers ; and 

 as they believed that the caprifig was the male plant, they at 

 once, by common consent, without further observation, con- 

 cluded that these female flowers could only be fecundated by 

 means of the insect, recognising in this a providence of nature 

 for the accomplishment of that important function. And I my- 

 self, having ascertained the correctness of the fact stated, came 

 naturally to the same conclusion, altiiough I had ascertained 

 that the caprifig was not the male of the fig, but a very different 

 plant. But in the course of time doubts gradually suggested 

 themselves to my mind, to remove which I devoted myself to 

 ulterior researches. First, it appeared to me impossible that in 

 all sorts of early figs there should never be a single fertile seed, 

 even when male flowers were present. Yet after repeated ex- 

 aminations I always found such to be the case. This must not 

 excite surprise, however, on considering that the flies which 

 enter these come from the cratiri (the young figs of the caprifig 

 that were first formed in the previous autumn), in which are 

 either no male flowers or very few, and those almost always 

 imperfect, and with little or no pollen. And then, if in these 

 early figs I occasionally found a male flower, it was only formed 



