BIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF FIGS. 935 



genera. Such a study, the details of which are outside 

 of the- scope of this treatise, will clearly show us how, 

 from mere simple forms, through adaptation to surround- 

 ing influences, our more complex figs have gradually 

 developed from more simply organized forms, or if we 

 will, from ancestors differently constructed. In order to 

 simplify our study, we might profitably divide it in two 

 parts, and first consider the development of the " fig " or 

 the fig receptacle, which we call the (fig) fruit, and sec- 

 ondly the development of the group of plants which we 

 call " fig trees," more particularly the edible fig tree, as 

 being the one which concerns us the most. Not only will 

 this study show us that our figs have developed from less 

 highly constructed ancestors, but also that in some in- 

 stances, as regards the flowers, a certain retrogression 

 has taken place, in which some flowers, through want of 

 use of certain organs, have degenerated from more per- 

 fect ones. 



EVOLUTION OF THE FIG FLOWERS AND THE FIG 

 RECEPTACLE. 



In order to reach its present form, both the fig flower 

 and the fig receptacle must have, in course of time, un- 

 dergone many changes, nature having always in view to 

 prevent self-fertilization and produce as perfect seeds as 

 possible. This change and gradual development must 

 have taken place very much as follows: 



•The first form of receptacle was convex, as it is yet 

 in the mulberry. This surface exposed the flowers too 

 much to the adverse influences of wind, insects, etc., and 

 the receptacle became more flattened out, as it is yet in 

 Dorstenia, a plant related to the fig. But the change 

 kept going on, and the receptacle became more and more 

 concave, thus exposing it less and less to outside influences. 



