BIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF FIGS. 965 



through their galls and then set to work to liberate the 

 females. Before the latter escape they are fecundated 

 while yet in the gall, by the males, Each gall contains 

 only one single wasp. The male wasps never leave the 

 fig. They are so constructed that they could not very 

 well live outside, and even inside the fig they soon perish, 

 their life-work having been accomplished when liberating 

 and fecundating the females. The females even do not 

 tarry long in the fig and soon find their way out through 

 the eye of the fig, which has opened sufficiently to let 

 them pass through without injury to their wings (74). In 

 case the fig has been injured and compressed in such a 

 way as to close the eye, the wasps will remain as pris- 

 oners until otherwise let out, for instance, by cutting the 

 fig. 



With care and aided by a magnifying glass, we may 

 further follow the female Blastophagas as they escape 

 from their old habitation. Their first work is to look for 

 figs suitable to lay their eggs in, the only object of the 

 wasps now being to propagate their species, it being 

 doubtful if they feed at all. As soon as outside of the old 

 caprifig the female Blastophaga halts on the outside of 

 the fig and endeavors to free herself of a whitish powder 

 with which she appears to be literally covered. This 

 powder is the pollen from the anthers of the male flowers 

 of the caprifig in which she hatched and with which she 

 came in contact when she escaped from the fig. This 

 process of cleaning she performs in very much the same 

 way as does a house-fly, streaking herself with her front 

 legs, bending at the same time the head, body and wings. 

 She never succeeds in getting entirely clean, as a large 

 portion of the pollen will adhere in spite of all her efforts. 

 But when she considers herself sufficiently clean she flies 

 away and lights on a less than half-grown caprifig of the 



