BIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF FIGS. 959 



the seed and of the receptacle; so that it does not appear 

 how the insect of the caprifig can be necessary to some 

 varieties only. 



3. We have seen by experiments that the insect neither 

 hastens the maturity nor causes the fruit to set, whether 

 of early or late figs, nor yet is it necessary for fecunda- 

 tion. 



4. That the circumstance of the caprifig losing many 

 of the fruits in which the fly has not been bred, does not 

 serve to prove the necessity of caprification, but rather 

 to refute the doctrine completely, as the fly does not breed 

 in the domestic fig; and besides, we have seen that when 

 the caprifig bears a large crop of fruits many of them fall 

 unripe, even though the insect has been in it, and the 

 grub be found in the ovaries. 



5. In respect to the dropping of some figs, the causes 

 must be sought for chiefly in constitution and mode of 

 vegetation of those varieties, also in the soil, climate and 

 adverse conditions of the season. 



6. That this caprification is useless for the setting and 

 ripening of fruit, and therefore this custom, which entails 

 expense and deteriorates the flavor of the fig, ought to be 

 abolished from our agriculture. 



To the above conclusions of Gasparrini I will offer the 

 following remarks. My own experiments (to be detailed 

 further on) in pollinating Smyrna figs with the pollen of 

 the caprifig, show conclusively that the caprifig and the 

 edible fig are closely related, though this fact does not 

 necessarily imply that they belong to the same species, of 

 which, however, there is no doubt (71). 



No. 2 of above can only refer to those varieties on 

 which Gasparrini experimented and knew. My experi- 

 ments, just referred to, show that not all figs are con- 

 structed exactly alike, and that accordingly the fig insect 



