SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. 15 



OVIPOSITION BY BLASTOPHAGA. 



If the Blastophaga has entered a caprifig, a crop of which should 

 at the time be in receptive condition, she finds no difficulty in depos- 

 iting her eggs. Authors differ as to the technique of the operation. 

 The German botanist Count H. G. Solms-Laubach says she pushes 

 her ovipositor down through the duct in the style and thus places 

 the egg in the ovary. Dr. Cunningham, the English botanist, in his 

 memoir on the fertilization of Ficus rozburyhii (5), says, "The depo- 

 sition must apparently take place, not in the style, but by means of 

 penetration of the upper surface of the ovary." Another author 

 says, "Should the fig entered prove to be a caprifig, she lays as many 

 eggs at the base of as many male flowers as she can find und then 

 dies." 



Careful investigations by the writer confirm the view of Solms- 

 Laubach. This view must be correct; otherwise the insect would be 

 able to oviposit in the Smyrna and other edible figs (which she never 

 does), and thus give us a collection of insects instead of seeds. 



After the insect reaches the interior of the caprifig she moves about 

 over the mass of stigmas; curving the posterior portion of the abdo- 

 men under and forward, she thrusts the ovipositor repeatedly down 

 between the flowers, seeming to be guided entirely by the sense of 

 feeling rather than sight. Finally, after eight or ten attempts, she 

 succeeds in pushing it down through the central duct of the style 

 and rests for a minute or two while the egg is being ejected. 



When the insect is wandering over the flowers the ovipositor does 

 not appear longer than the sheath. This apparently misled Dr. 

 Cunningham, who states that the ovipositor is too short to reach the 

 ovary through the style. When an entrance to the style is effected, 

 the ovipositor is extended, telescopelike, to three times the usual 

 length, which enables the insect to deposit her egg well down in the 

 ovary. The style is white and translucent, and. as the egg-laying 

 instrument is yellow or amber colored it is plainly visible with a 

 microscope of moderate power when pushed down into the ovary. 

 Within two or three hours after oviposition in a flower the stigma 

 and style turn brown, rendering it easy by opening a fig to determine 

 that the work has been well done. 



CAPRIFIG SEEDS. 



The mammoni crop of the capri tree is the only one which has been 

 observed to produce seeds, and then only in small numbers. The 

 obvious reason for the presence of seeds is that this crop is pollinated 

 by the Blastophaga of the preceding profichi crop. The profichi 

 crop itself yields no seed, because the mamme figs preceding it have 

 no viable pollen, although the pistils are provided with receptive 

 stigmas. 



