2 72 BOTANY OF CROP PLANTS 



insect has been a topic of great interest to students of botany. 

 Pollination in the Caprifig will be considered first. 



Crops of Fruit in Caprifigs. — In the wild fig (Caprifig) there 

 are three crops of fruit in a year. These are as follows: 



First Crop (Profichi). — The figs of this crop form in the 

 autumn, rest over the winter and mature the following 

 June or July. They bear staminate and gall flowers but 

 no pistillate flowers. When the figs are about one-fourth 

 grown, female wasps enter and deposit their eggs in the 

 gall flowers. In about two months, the eggs hatch out, the 

 perfect wasps emerge and the females, covered with pollen, 

 come from the fig and seek other figs in which to deposit 

 their eggs. By this time (June and July) the second crop 

 of figs is about one-fourth grown. 



Second Crop (Mammoni). — The fruits of this crop possess 

 staminate, pistillate and gall flowers. The wasps which 

 emerge from the figs of the first crop enter the narrow orifice 

 at the apex of the receptacle (second crop) , crawl down along 

 the inner side, first over the staminate flowers, then over 

 the pistillate flowers, finally reaching the gall flowers at the 

 base of the receptacle, in which they deposit the eggs. The 

 pollen on their bodies is rubbed off on the receptive stigmas, 

 which are elevated on the long, curved styles, and thus polU- 

 nation is secured. As a result, a few fully developed seeds are 

 found in the second crop of Caprifigs. In August or Sep- 

 tember the eggs, deposited in the gall flowers of the second 

 crop, hatch out. The mature female wasps emerge from the 

 receptacle, in search of other figs in which to lay their 

 eggs. By this time the third crop of Caprifigs is about one- 

 fourth grown. 



Third Crop (Mamme). — The figs of this crop possess 

 staminate and gall, but no female flowers. When they 

 are about one-fourth grown, in August or September, 



