218 
Mr. J. O. Westwood on Caprification. 
gnats when they pricked them. In May the third sort of fruit, 
called Orni, begins to be produced by the wild fig-trees. This is 
much bigger than the other two, and when it grows to a certain 
size, and its buds begin to open, it is pricked in that part by the 
gnats of the Cratitires , which are strong enough to go from one 
fruit to another to deposit their eggs. It sometimes happens that 
the gnats of the Cratitires are slow to come forth in certain parts, 
while the Orni in those very parts are disposed to receive them. 
In this case the husbandman is obliged to look for the Cratitires 
in another part, and fix them at the end of the branches of those 
fig-trees, whose Orni are in a fit disposition to be pricked by the 
gnats. If they miss the opportunity, the Orni fall, and the gnats 
of the Cratitires fly away ; none but those that are well acquainted 
with the culture know the critical moment of doing this, and in 
order to know it, their eggs are perpetually fixed on the bud of 
the fig, for that part not only indicates the time that the insects 
are to issue forth, but also when the fig is to be successfully 
pricked ; if the bud is too hard and compact the gnat cannot lay 
its eggs, and the fig drops when the bud is too open. 
“ The use of all these three sorts of fruit is to ripen the fruit of 
the garden fig in the following manner. During the months of 
June and July the peasants take the Orni at the time their gnats 
are ready to break out, and carry them to the garden fig-trees; if 
they do not nick the moment, the Orni fall, and the fruit of the 
domestic fig-tree not ripening, will in a very little time fall in like 
manner. The peasants are so well acquainted with these pre- 
cious moments, that every morning in making their inspection 
they only transfer to their garden fig-trees such Orni as are well 
conditioned, otherwise they lose their crop. In this case however 
they have one remedy, though an indifferent one, which is to strew 
over the garden fig-trees another plant in whose fruit there is a 
species of gnat, which answers the purpose in some manner.” 
In this account the insects are termed gnats, but it is quite evi- 
dent, from the observations of all subsequent authors, that the 
insect here alluded to is either the Hymenopterous insect called 
Cynips Psenes by Linnaeus, or one very closely allied thereto. It 
also appears certain that the eggs of the insect are deposited in the 
immature fruit, since the latter at a more advanced period are de- 
scribed as containing the larvae, which subsequently bring forth 
another brood of the insect. Nevertheless we are still in igno- 
rance of many points in the natural history of the insect, a know- 
ledge of which would alone enable us to form a precise idea as to 
its mode of operation. 
