70 ANIMAL ARTISANS 



as we speak of the "dog" rose), on the edible 

 fig-trees at certain seasons, in the belief that the wild 

 fig fertilised the other. In this they were perfectly 

 right, but it was not done in the way in which they 

 thought. Though the wild fig has male and female 

 flowers, the former do not directly fertilise those of 

 the edible fig. That is done by an insect hatched in 

 the female blossom of the wild tree. These blossoms 

 turn into galls, the galls in turn liberate a fly, the fly 

 visits and is covered with the pollen of the wild fig, 

 and then flies into the female flower of the other and 

 fertilises it. In order that the edible figs introduced 

 into California from Asia Minor might be properly 

 fertilised, these insects were introduced, it having been 

 found that without them the trees did not give a 

 proper yield. 



A curious instance of insect migration in which the 

 creature seems to have travelled in order either to 

 " better itself" or because it is naturally of an adven- 

 turous turn, was given some years ago in a pamphlet 

 written by a Russian diplomatist, who in the intervals 

 of political work applied himself to the task of un- 

 ravelling the ancient and widespread belief that bees 

 are born from the bodies of dead oxen. It is a belief 

 of remote antiquity, which appears in many languages. 

 The author identified the insect which gave rise to it 

 as a fly called Erystalis tenax, which, in addition to 

 being very like a bee, has the power of feeding on 

 and breeding in a very great number of substances, 

 nice or nasty. Incidentally he quoted evidence as to 

 the curious migrations of the fly, which has in recent 



