587 



part of the concavity next the stalk the flowers being concealed 

 within the button-like fruit, consequently there is not the same 

 opportunity for pollenation to take place with the aid of bees, wind, 

 or birds, as is the case with most other fruits, and Nature, having 



Male Blaatophaga (enlarged). 



Female Blastophaga (enlarged). 



left nothing unfinished, created and commissioned these little insects, 

 which are now known as Blastophagas, to perform the mission of 

 caprification. The method by which this is accomplished is to plant 

 the wild Capri fig, amongst the cultivated ones ; the insects infest the 

 wild sort, which it leaves to attack the domestic one, entering to the 

 interior of the fruit by the orifice. This is a very ancient practice. 

 It was mentioned by the earliest Greek writers on natural history, 

 and some state that it was first used in the Islands of the Archi- 

 pelago. Some writers also doubt its utility ; but the fact remains 

 that the cultivation of the Smyrna fig has proven a failure without 

 the presence of the Blastophaga. 



MUSEUM PEST (THE BUFFALO BEETLE). 



The Buffalo Beetle has become a very troublesome pest in 

 houses and museums, doing great damage to carpets andj woollen 

 articles, and are very destructive to dry insects in collections. 



Buffalo Beetle (Anthremus muscorum). 



a, larva (destructive stage) ; b, pupa within larval skin ; c, pupa d, beetle. All 

 much magnified. (From thirty-third annual report Entomologica 

 Society of Ontario.) 



