32 INSECTS 



were usually hung up in the tree which it was intended 

 to fructify. This work of pollination is accomplished 

 by the Blastophaga already referred to, although, far 

 from benefiting itself in the process, the insect dies 

 without even being able to continue its kind. 



In the caprifigs the female flowers are replaced by 

 little gall-like swellings in which the larvae of the Blasto- 

 phaga develop. One generation of figs, the so-called 

 "mammae," remain on the trees during the winter and 

 by the time they are ready to drop, there is already on 

 the trees a new or spring crop of fruit, known as the 

 "profichi. " By the time that this crop is in proper 

 condition, the insects that have hibernated in the 

 "mammae," are fully developed, the wingless and almost 

 blind male Blastophaga has fertilized the female before 

 she is even out of her cell, and the latter, leaving the 

 dried-up fig by the small anterior opening, makes its 

 way into the new figs, to provide for a new generation. 

 In the "profichi" this generation matures at the time 

 the commercial Smyrna fig is in proper condition and 

 the females, emerging pollen covered from the "pro- 

 . fichi," enter the small opening of this true female flower 

 receptacle, if they find themselves in a tree bearing them. 

 But in this Smyrna covering all the female florets are 

 fully developed, and the gall-like swellings that replace 

 them in the caprifigs are absent. The insect therefore 

 moves about over the entire interior surface of the 

 pouch, seeking a place to oviposit, and in the process 

 distributes its load of pollen everywhere. It event- 

 ually dies without reproducing, and usually without 

 even being able to make its way out again. But 

 though the insect has lost its life, the tree has gained 

 and the seed pouch that we know as the fig, comes to 

 maturity and ripens seed. 



