vm, D, 2 Baker: Caprification in Ficus nota 65 



interior are found to be thickly massed with the densely packed 

 brown galls produced from the modified ovaries of the infertile 

 female flowers. In a narrow area about the inner mouth of 

 the ostiole (now closed by thickly imbricated scales) are the 

 closely placed bright pink, unopened, monandrous flowers. 

 When kept under observation for a few days, they present 

 a confused maze of activities. From certain of the galls appear 

 numbers of queer, clumsy, wingless, yellow insects — the males 

 of the blastophaga. Immediately after they emerge, they turn 

 their attention to gnawing small holes in the still unopened galls. 

 This quest for the female seems completely and continuously 

 to occupy their attention. Many times holes are made and the 

 gall then immediately deserted, and in such cases galls will be 

 found to contain insects other than the blastophaga — guests or 

 parasites. These small holes are made at any accessible point on 

 the surface of the gall. In case the gall happens to contain 

 a female blastophaga, the tip of the male abdomen, which is 

 closely recurved under the body and projects forward between 

 the forelegs and just beneath the mouth, is introduced into the 

 gall without any change in general attitude of the body of the 

 male, and copulation with the imprisoned female takes place. 

 The beauty of this extraordinary position of the male abdomen 

 is seen as the work of the male proceeds, since to reach all the 

 galls in the lower layers it must push itself into crevices where 

 any great movement of the body is impossible, and must fer- 

 tilize females in galls which can only be reached by the anterior 

 end of the body. Copulation accomplished, the males make no 

 attempt whatever to enlarge the minute hole made for this 

 purpose. The female gnaws her own way out immediately after 

 copulation. This is in striking contrast to the case of the 

 Smyrna fig insect, in which the male is supposed, as stated by 

 Eisen, to liberate the female after copulation; however, obser- 

 vations on this point should be repeated. The male continues 

 on its quest, rapidly gnawing into gall after gall, and repeating 

 the act of copulation, until exhausted and dying. In its nervous 

 haste, the male occasionally bites into the stamens also, but 

 any intentional attack on the stamens, as described by Cunning- 

 ham for F. roxhurghii, does not occur in F. nota, nor can I see 

 any reason for such attack beyond mere accident. 



With the rapid emergence of the males, followed by the emer- 

 gence of the females, the scene in the fig becomes exceedingly 

 animated. During this time, males also of various guests and 

 parasites {Philotrypesis, Agaonella, Sycophaga, and Sycoryctes) 



