910 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Those caprifigs already imported to California produce 

 an abundance of male flowers in the profichi. A majority, 

 or at least a great quantity, of these profichi come to 

 pomological and botanical maturity without pollination 

 and caprification. They produce male flowers with per- 

 fect pollen, but as far as I have seen, no female flowers 

 with fertile seed. The caprifig at Niles produced a num- 

 ber of soft, yellow and large figs in the end of July, all 

 containing pollen. These figs were much larger than 

 any dry caprifigs imported from Italy and Smyrna, which 

 may possibly be explained by the latter having been 

 picked in a somewhat earlier stage of development. If 

 so, the pollen in the imported figs must have perfected 

 itself after the picking of the fruit, a very doubtful 

 theory (24). 



The fact that the caprifigs at Niles do not produce any 

 fertile seeds, although they have both perfect male and 

 female flowers, depends upon the fact that, as in the 

 edible fig, the male flowers shed their pollen first long 

 after the female flowers have past their state of receptivity. 

 As this Niles flg only produces one crop a year, it is evi- 

 dent that it is impossible for the female flowers to have 

 been fertilized from the pollen of a previous crop; this, 

 however, being the only way in which seed in any fig can 

 be produced. 



The Fig. — The fruit which we call a fig is really not one 

 single fruit, but a large number of fruits (or flowers) 

 placed on a common receptacle. The fig itself is this re- 

 ceptacle, and in its interior are seen the small fruits, or 

 the flowers if the fig is unripe. 



If we cut open a fig lengthwise, we see first exteriorly 

 a fleshy homogenous mass, the receptacle proper enclos- 

 ing a central hollow, which connects with the outside 

 through a narrow passage at the eye. Lining this central 



