VII 



OVEKCOMING DIFFICULTIES 87 



be nothing marvellous in that, and he did not 

 consider that his book would be sufficiently inter- 

 esting unless it was full of marvellous stories. 

 There is almost no end to the wonders of the wild 

 fig in his eyes, for " a branch of this tree attached 

 to the neck of a bull, however furious, exercises 

 such a marvellous effect upon him as to restrain 

 his ferocity and render him quite immovable." 



Probably Pliny never had sufficient curiosity to 

 try the experiment himself; perhaps one of my 

 readers would like to try. 



But we must go back to the figs. Perhaps we 

 do not know the whole story even yet, though there 

 have been many people who have worked hard to 

 find out what it all means. We know, however, 

 a good deal more than Pliny did. We know first 

 that though the caprifig never produces edible figs, 

 yet some kinds have pollen-bearing flowers as well 

 as seed-bearing ones, and, as Herodotus and Pliny 

 already knew, these wild figs have tiny wasps inside. 

 The cultivated fig, which we eat, never or rarely 

 has pollen-bearing flowers, and, therefore, if they 

 are to set seeds, the tiny wasps from the caprifigs, 

 which are always covered with pollen, must find 

 their way into them. 



But there is this great difference between the date 

 and the fig : that if the date be not fertilised it never 

 swells up into the edible date, but figs do swell up 



