272 NATURE NOTES. 
normal circumstances, and this does not seem to produce any 
deleterious effects. In the other common (dark grey) species 
Porcellis, I have never found bacilli. LH ore: 
THE COMMONER SPECIES OF FiIG TREES IN CAPE COLONY. 
THOSE who are acquainted with the fig tree only as it grows 
under artificial conditions in England, can form little idea of 
the wonderful beauty and luxuriance which it attains in its 
native habitat. 
In Cape Colony, for example, where there are many species 
differing in appearance and fruit as in habitat, the fig tree 
forms one of the most conspicuous and most pleasing 
features of the landscape. Although unfortunately its wood 
is too soft to permit it to be of any use to the carpenter, yet 
its fruit makes the fig tree very valuable. In South Africa 
its value would be much greater were more attention 
devoted to its culture. Speaking broadly, the fig trees of 
South Africa may be divided into two groups, viz., the fig 
trees of the cultivated districts and those of the veldt. 
Owing to the widely different conditions of their natural 
habitats, the species forming the one group differ widely in 
their appearance and in their fruit from those which form 
the other. The typical fig tree of Cape Colony is a tall tree 
with thick spreading branches strong enough to bear the 
weight of a man, though owing to the want of moisture its 
leaves never attain the size of those grown in a hot-house in 
England. So little moisture is there that one often sees in 
hot seasons the leaves become brown and scorched, but the ~ 
fruit does not seem to be in any way affected by the 
excessive drought. 
The fruit of the various species differs, as may be expected, 
in size and in quality, but the most highly prized are the 
purple fig, which is large and beautiful ; the yellow fig, which 
is shaped more like a pear than a fig; the green, whose 
ripeness is only likely to be detected by the connoisseur ; 
and lastly, the little black fig, to my taste the nicest of all. 
