174 



have received the puncture of the insect. When they 

 have dried them in the sun, they put them into ovens 

 to destroy the eggs of the gnats laid in them, from 

 whence otherwise worms would be produced, which 

 would consume the fruit. 



What an expence of time and pains is here! Who 

 can but admire the patience of the Greeks, busied 

 above two months in carrying these prickers from 

 one tree to another ; but how do these contribute te 

 the ripening of the garden figs ? Perhaps by caus- 

 ing the nutritious juice to extravasate, whose ves. 

 *els they tear asunder, in depositing their eggs. Per* 

 liaps too they leave with their eggs some kind of 

 liquor, proper to ferment with the milk of the fig, 

 and make it tender. Figs in Paris ripen sooner, fur 

 their buds pricked with a straw dipped in oil* 



