240 SELF IMPREGNATION. [BOOK n. 



the female hemp produces ripe seeds in the absence of males : 

 but others assert that if proper precautions are taken to 

 secure the removal of all the males the female hemp is 

 barren; Achille Richard, Desfontaines, Marti and Serafino 

 Volta, have obtained the latter result from careful experi- 

 ments. 



On the other hand, Professor Gasparrini declares it to be a 

 well ascertained fact " that the embryo may be formed in the 

 absence of fecundation." This opinion rests upon the fol- 

 lowing statement : 



" The cultivated Fig tree bears two sorts of fruit (recep- 

 tacles, amphanths] ; in the spring early figs or fiorones 

 (fioroni} t and in the summer late figs which ripen in the 

 autumn. In the fiorones male flowers are very rarely found, 

 and the few which may be present cannot serve for fecundation, 

 for they do not make their appearance until long after the 

 female flowers, nor until the stigmata of the latter are dried 

 and destroyed. Whether it be owing to this or some other 

 cause, I have never yet been able to find seeds with embryos 

 in the fiorones. 



" The summer fruits, on the contrary, have no male flowers, 

 and yet a large proportion, I may say nearly all of their 

 ovaries become perfect, that is, furnished with embryos. 



" It was generally supposed that the cultivated fig was the 

 female, and the wild fig or caprifig was the male of one 

 and the same species ; that the latter fecundated the former ; 

 and that its fruits, especially those of the spring and autumn, 

 contained at the same time male and female flowers. I 

 have already exposed the error of this opinion (Nova genera 

 super nonnullis Fid speciebus, 1844), and have shown that 

 the cultivated and wild Fig trees are so different from 

 one another, that they ought to be looked upon as types of 

 distinct genera. I wished, however, to ascertain whether 

 in spite of their great dissimilarity, one could fertilise the 

 other. 



" I have already stated, that the early cultivated figs or 

 fiorones never contain seeds with embryos ; that if any male 

 flowers do occur in these figs, they cannot fertilise the females 

 because they do not make their appearance till the stigmata 



