THE SMYRNA FIG AT HOME AND ABROAD 



77 



THE EGG. 



"The egg when seen in the ovary is very long and slender, but when found in the 

 fig it is less than three times as long as broad, almost regularly elliptical in shape, 

 white and slightly shining, with a delicate petiole of about one and a half times its 

 length. On dissecting a flower into which the egg has been inserted by the female 

 Blastophaga, it will be found to have been pushed in transversely to the axis of the 

 flower nearly to the center, with the petiole reaching out to the cortex. Its dimensions 

 are, length, exclusive of petiole, 0.092 mm.; width, 0.046 mm." 



FIG. 2 Blastophaga Grossorum , a, adult female with wings extended, seen from above; b, female, 

 not entirely issued from pupal skin and still contained in gall ; c, antenna of female ; d, head of female 

 from below; e, adult male; /, the same all greatly enlarged. 



Courtesy of U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



THE LARVA. 



"The young larva is a delicate little creature curved upon itself and showing no 

 visible segmentation. It takes many days development of the Capri Fig before the 

 larva becomes visible with certainty without the most careful observation under a 

 strong lens. The first sign which indicates that one is watching the larva and not 

 the sap in the gall is the visibility of two brownish spots, which are without doubt 

 the mandibles of the larva. When these spots become visible with a very powerful 

 hand lens (one-fourth inch Tolles triplet), the larva is more than two-thirds grown 

 and the segmentation of the body has become noticeable. It is a very difficult thing 

 to dissect the larva out of the gall without crushing it, but it can be accomplished 

 with care by the aid of dissecting needles. No casting of the skin has been observed. 

 With the growth of the larva the gall at the base of the male florets becomes hard, 

 and greatly resembles a seed, turning light brown in color." 



