60 UTILIZATION OP MINUTE LIFE. 



flowers,* the female fig-trees of the East are apt to 

 become sterile when removed from the immediate 

 vicinity of the male plants. On the other hand a 

 certain species of Cynips is known to abound in the 

 flowers of the latter ; so that to render their female 

 trees fertile, the Greeks imagined the process of 

 caprification, which consists in this : As soon as the 

 male flowers are in full bloom, they are cut off and 

 strung into garlands, which are hung upon the 

 branches of the female trees. The Cynips in their 

 passage from the male to the female flowers, carry 

 with them the pollen of the former, and so the con- 

 ditions of fertility are ensured. 



There are many descriptions of gall-nuts, but 

 those which are mostly esteemed for industrial pur-, 

 poses are the gall-nuts of the East, exported chiefly 

 from Aleppo, Smyrna, etc. They are the product of 

 an insect first described by Olivier, and now gene- 

 rally known as Cynips gallce tinctorice. 



When an insect of the Cynips kind is about, to 

 lay its eggs, it makes a slight incision in the leaves 

 of certain plants into which it deposits its eggs. 

 The sap of the plant thus wounded flows rapidly to 

 this spot a separate incision is made for each egg 

 and in course of time a small excrescence is 

 formed. The eggs hatch and the new-born larvce 



* There are two apparent exceptions to this rule, namely, the 

 C&lobogyne, or batchelor plant, and Hemp. 



