HYMENOPTERA 



63 



and legs as they pass out. At once they enter another 

 fig to deposit eggs. If this is a Smyrna fig, its female 

 flowers will be dusted with pollen from the insect and 



FIG. 49 Fig insects; a, female; e, emerging from a gall, many of which are 

 seen in Fig. 48. Lines at right show natural size. After Howard. 



thereby fertilized. The insect will not lay eggs in the 

 Smyrna fig, but only in the wild fig; therefore one indi- 

 vidual may carry the pollen to a dozen Smyrna figs be- 

 fore finding a wild fig whose character it does not recog- 

 nize before entering within the receptacle. 



Ichneumon Flies 



The ichneumons are incorrectly called flies, as they have 

 four wings. They go a step further in parasitism than the 

 preceding group, as they are parasitic on or within other 

 insects and usually while the latter are in the larval or 

 pupal stage. There are over five thousand species vary- 

 ing in size from an eighth of an inch to one and a half 



