OcTOBER 20, 1899. ] 
and the ordinary figs, appearing on the 
new wood of the year, after the brebas 
mature, in June or July, and ripening in 
August or September. This second crop 
may be irregular in season, some Italian 
sorts not maturing all their fruits until 
Christmas (the ‘Natalino’) or Easter (the 
‘Pasquale’). In both crops of figs the 
flowers are exclusively female, though al- 
ways malformed in the brebas, according 
to Gasparrini and Solms-Laubach, and 
sometimes in the second generation, accord- 
ing to Dr. Eisen. The flowers in the bre- 
bas are never pollinated, and indeed no 
pollen is to be had at the season when they 
develop. The ordinary figs may be fecun- 
dated by pollen from the caprifig, and the 
sorts which produce the dried figs of com- 
merce are regularly so pollinated by the fig 
insect (Blastophaga), and in consequence 
yield fertileseedsin abundance. These figs 
of the so-called Smyrna type often absolutely 
require pollination in order to set a crop 
while the ordinary sorts esteemed for eat- 
ing in the fresh condition develop without 
the inclosed flowers having been pollinated, 
but lack the peculiar nutty flavor communi- 
cated to the dried fig by the presence of the 
fertile seeds, a fact to which attention was 
first called by Dr. Hisen. 
THE CAPRIFIG. 
The caprifig is even more complicated in 
its fruiting than is the ordinary fig. There 
are three generations of fruits, usually 
known by their Neapolitan names. I. The 
mamme, or caprifigs of the winter genera- 
tion, which set about October and ripen 
from March to May, usually in April. IT. 
The spring generation, called profichi, set- 
ting when the mamme fall, and ripening in 
June or July. This is the generation for 
caprification. III. The summer genera- 
tion, mammont, which set shortly after the 
proficht fall and ripen when the mamme 
set. All three generations harbor the fig 
SCIENCE. 
STE 
insect, Blastophaga psenes, * which lives in- 
side the ovaries, converting the seed into a 
gall. When the female insects enter the 
young caprifigs after leaving the ripe cap- 
rifigs of the previous generation, they lay 
one egg in each of the gall flowers, which 
are then very like female flowers but not 
identical, having imperfect stigmas. The 
proficht or spring generation caprifigs bear 
abundant male flowers in a zone occupying 
the upper part of the fig, just below the 
mouth. It is this generation, abounding 
in pollen, which is used in caprification. 
It is worthy of note that male flowers. 
mature nearly two months after the gall 
flowers are ready to receive the eggs of the 
insect, and only just before the figs ripen ; 
e. g., mammont female flowers, which occur 
though rarely, are pollinated by profichi 
pollen, the rare mammoni male flowers not 
developing until two months later. The 
mammont or summer generation produce a 
few male flowers in the same position, and 
the mamme or winter generation none, or 
only a few imperfect flowers. 
and proficht never produce 
mammoni a very few only. 
There are two or three exceptions to the 
normal noted above. As in most dicecious. 
species, moncecious forms of figs occur, 
though rarely. There are, for example, 
male flowers occasionally produced in cul- 
tivated figs, and on the other hand, there 
are nearly always a very few female flowers 
The mamme 
seeds; the 
*Blastophaga psenes of Cayolini, perhaps not of 
Linnaeus whose Cynips psenes was based on the ac- 
count of Hasselquist, edited by Linnaeus, and pub- 
lished in 1757, and included Hasselquist’s two spe- 
cies, Cynips ficus and Cynips carice. Both these species 
were described as ‘Corptis totum rufum,’ and, as Mayer 
points out in opposition to Loew, can scarcely apply 
to Blastophaga. Hasselquist’s names having been 
published before 1758, the earliest available descrip- 
tions of indubitable application to the fig insect and 
its common messmate are, respectively, Ichnewmon 
psenes and Ichneumon ficarius of Cayolini, published in 
1782, the latter of which should be known as Philo- 
trypesis ficaria (Cavolini). 
