938 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



descent through ages of cultivation. But as has been 

 shown in these pages and as has been well known for 

 nearly two centuries, the caprifig differs in having male 

 and gall flowers, while our edible figs possess principally 

 flowers of a different kind. In order to explain the de- 

 velopment through cultivation by man of our edible figs, 

 several different theories have been put forward by prom- 

 inent investigators, each theory in its turn to be thrown 

 down if not fully disproved by more recent research. 



We will here shortly consider each one of these the- 

 ories separately, as they are of great interest both in po- 

 mological as well as scientific respects. 



First Theory. — The oldest theory perhaps was the one 

 brought out by the well-known Italian investigator and 

 horticulturist Gasparrini. He held that the fig and the 

 caprifig are specifically distinct, or in other words he did 

 not believe that the caprifig is the male tree and the edible 

 fig the female tree of the same species. He would derive 

 the edible fig from some unknown ancestor not yet found, 

 perhaps from some species w^hich in course of ages have 

 entirely disappeared in its wald natural state. 



Gasparrini based his opinion principally upon his fail- 

 ure to produce or rather to increase the number of fertile 

 seed in the edible fig, either by pollination or b}^ caprifi- 

 cation with the pollen of the caprifig. His experiments 

 were numerous and fairly carefully performed, and as far 

 as they go quite valuable. But they prove an entirely 

 different thing from what Gasparrini claimed, and it is 

 impossible to logically draw the conclusions from his ex- 

 periments which he unhesitatingly did. 



The force and value of his arguments become less im- 

 portant, convincing and conclusive, when we can show 

 that his many experiments, upon which alone he based his 

 theor}^, were made on fig varieties which possess few or 



