and Calorification. 389 



Idarnella aterrima, n. s. 



Fcemina. Caput, antennae, thorax, femora, tibiae, 

 abdominis dorsum, valvulaeque oviductus, penitus nigri ; 

 ocelli diaphani ; tarsi venterque pallidi ; alarum venae 

 flavescentes, vena deflexa cubitali clavata, parum ex- 

 curva, apice 4-pustulata ; terebra rufo-picea. Long. corp. 

 24; mm. ; exp. alar. 24; mm. 



Hab. Australasias, prope Sydney, in Ficus macro- 

 phylla grossis sat frequens ; nonnullae dimidio fere 

 minores. In Mus. nostro. 



With regard to the Caprificus figs adverted to at p. 383, 

 Count Solms-Laubach, in his erudite Treatise on the 

 origin, domestication, and culture of the common fig- 

 tree, Ficus Carica, L. ("Die Herkunft, Domestication 

 und Verbreitung der gewohnlichen Feigenbaums," Got- 

 tingen, 1882), observes, that from ancient times two 

 different races of fig-trees were clearly defined, which 

 have remained unchanged to the present day : the one 

 comprising the countless varieties of edible figs culti- 

 vated everywhere ; the other bearing inedible fruit 

 which remains milky and hard up to the period of 

 maturity, when it partially softens without acquiring 

 saccharine juices, until it finally becomes shrivelled and 

 desiccated. This tree is only cultivated in certain 

 countries for special purposes, being mostly allowed to 

 shoot up spontaneously or grow wild : the Greeks called 

 it Ipa/Eos (or sfms) ; the Latins, " Caprificus." Hence the 

 term " caprification" — an operation still in vogue in many 

 regions while repudiated in others — on the efficacy of 

 which the Count, after diligent investigation during a 

 long sojourn at Naples, where this doctrine is generally 

 accepted, pronounces as follows : — " Caprification is an 

 operation traditionally practised in the same way from 

 generation to generation, which, necessary in bygone 

 ages, is now scarcely any more useful (' jetzt kaum rnehr 

 niitzliche '), the scientific importance of which, as a 

 means of evincing the changes our cultivated plants 

 have experienced in the lapse of time, cannot be too 

 highly estimated " (op. (At., p. 44). 



But the question of fact remains unsolved as regards 

 the possibility of any benefit ever accruing from this 

 system of hanging the Caprificus figs tenanted by the 

 Blastophaga upon the domestic fig-trees at a certain 

 season, whether for the conveyance of pollen, or for 



