

.\ 



SYCAMORE FIGS GROWN IN ALGERIA 



The Egyptian grower gouges a small hole in the end of the ripening fruit, to admit air and 

 prevent the eggs of the fig-wasp from hatching. The Algerian merely slices the end of 

 the fruit off with a knife. The tree is rare in Algeria. Photograph, natural size, made 

 at Biskra, Algeria, in 1900, by David Fairchild. (Fig. 3.) 



Sycophaga crassipes. These little wasps 

 use the ovaries of the flowers as cells 

 in which to lay their eggs and rear their 

 young. After the eggs are laid, each 

 ovary increases in size, in order to 

 accommodate the insect which develops 

 inside. The young insects which first 

 leave the cells are all males; they are 

 wingless and dark brown in color. As 

 soon as they come out they fecundate 

 the females whilst the latter are still 

 in the cells, in which they have been 

 hatched. When the work of fecunda- 

 tion is finished, the females leave their 

 cells and the males die. The latter may 

 usually be found dead in a cluster just 

 inside the "eye" of the fruit in which 

 they have passed their life. The females 



are shiny black in color, and are 

 furnished with two pairs of wings and a 

 long ovipositor. As compared with the 

 males, they are somewhat short. As 

 soon as the female leaves the cells 

 she makes her way through the "eye" 

 of the fig to the open air. Sometimes 

 she does not come out by way of the 

 "eye" but through a hole which she 

 cuts in the wall of the fruit. This, 

 however, does not occur frequently. 

 As soon as she has escaped from the old 

 fig she flies to another which is still 

 in the early stage of development. 

 Alighting on this she forces her way 

 between the closely fitting scales of the 

 "eye" until she reaches the interior. 

 This operation usually causes her to 



