ROBBING'S FRUIT GROWERS' GUIDE 



43 



Blastophaga grossorum. A, 

 adult female, very much mag- 

 nified; B, head of same from 

 below; C, head of same from 

 side; D, male impregnating 

 female; E, female issuing from 

 the gall ; F, adult much enlarged. 

 The narrow lines close to each 

 figure indicate the actual size 

 of the insect. 



something decidedly lacking in our product when com- 

 pared with the famous fig of commerce from Smyrna. 

 The very decided difference in quality was attributed 

 to soil and climatic conditions, and those who were ready 

 to concede that a little wasp could so completely change 

 the character of a fruit, were in the abject minority. 

 Although it is not necessary to have the fig wasp for the 

 White Adriatic, nevertheless there is a decided im- 

 provement in this and even in other varieties of figs 

 where the wasp has made its entry. 



This is due to the fact that although the greater part 

 of the flowers in the Adriatic type of figs are malformed 

 and therefore cannot be pollinated, there are some 

 flowers in such figs whi^h do take the pollen, and these 

 have perfect seeds. 



One point must not be overlooked that the edible 

 fig grows on an entirely distinct tree from the caprifig. 

 The oaprifig serves as a home for the several genera- 

 tions of the wasp, and its figs are not edible. The capri- 

 fig produces three distinct crops annually, the first one 

 pushing out on the wood of the previous year's growth 

 in March; the second crop comes on the new wood in 

 July; the third in September. These several crops are 

 designated as follows: Profichi, or spring crop; Mam- 

 moni, or summer crop; Mamme, or overwintering crop. 

 The Mamme figs remain on the trees all winter, from 

 September until into the April of the following year, 

 the wasps during this period being in the larvae stage. 

 When the caprifig starts to grow in the spring the wasps 

 pass out of the larvae into the pupae stage, and finally 

 when the Profichi figs are about the size of marbles, 

 which usually occurs in April, the female wasp passes 

 from the Mamme figs and forces her way through the 

 scale of the orifice into the Profichi figs (which to the 

 naked eye is closed) and deposits an egg in the ovaries 

 of the gall flowers. The life history of the wasp in this 

 crop is the same as in the others, the only difference 

 being that the metamorphosis takes place more rapidly. 

 When the crops reach maturity there are both males 

 and females. The males are wingless and are readily 

 distinguished by their reddish tinge; the females are of 

 a lustrous black color and are winged. The male wasp 

 crawls out of the gall first, intuitively locates the female 

 in the gall in which she is confined, gnaws an opening 

 with its powerful mandibles and impregnates her. 

 She then enlarges the opening made by the male and 



starts on a tour of exploration.. Her sole object in life 

 is to perpetuate her species and to do this she must 

 find the flower of another fig to deposit her eggs. As the 

 Profichi crop bears the most important part, in her 

 relation to mankind, for the sake of argument we will 

 take it for granted that the female wasp is coming out 

 of the Profichi crop. As she prepares to take her de- 

 parture she passes through the zone of male or stami- 

 nate flowers, surrounding the orifice of this fig, and her 

 body is completely dusted with the pollen grains. In 

 the great fig-growing districts this flight occurs in the 

 month of June. It is in this stage of her existence that 

 the hand of man steps in. 



The Profichi figs are gathered from the trees and are 

 distributed in oval baskets made of three-quarter-inch 

 poultry netting or placed in small strawberry or fruit 

 baskets which have been previously hung on wire in 

 the Smyrna fig trees. At this time the Smyrna figs vary 

 in size from a small pea to a large size marble. The 

 wasp forces its way between the scale of the orifice of 

 the edible fig, going into it for the avowed purpose of 

 laying its eggs. 



The wire basket which is suspended in the Calimyrna fig 

 trees. In an exceptionally large tree two of these baskets 

 should be used. 



