9i 

 perfect flowers. The calyx gamosepalus; the outer part of 

 the tube and the lobes are silvery scurfy, the inner at first 

 greenish yellow, later becoming lemon yellow. The flowers 

 are not conspicuous though the odor is decidedly attractive 

 and pleasant, the air being scented for some distance. Stam- 

 ens four, somewhat shorter than the pistil, both maturing at 

 thre same time. The nectar is secreted from a large fleshy 

 gland at the lower end of the style in the bottom of the cal- 

 yx tube. It is much visited bj' the honey-bee and Bombus. 



The pollination of fig {Ficus caHca) is just 

 as remarkable as that of the Yucca. Since 

 ancient tidies artificial pollination or caprification was aftect- 

 ed by the Caprificus. This was done by hanging ripe fruit 

 of the Caprificus to the branches of the fig tree "whose figs; 

 are then in their female stage with open ostiola." The wasps 

 issue from the Caprificus, enter the fig and bring pollen of 

 the former. In order to fully understand the method of 

 pollination we should study the strucfure of the flowers. A 

 fig is not a single ripened fruit, but a branch in which there 

 are a large number of fruits. In some species as FicuS 

 pumila female flowers only occur in the bottom of the urn, 

 while the pollen bearing flowers occur around the opening. 



In FLcus carica two kinds of plants occur; Caprificus 

 which bear on the inner wall a large number of female 

 flowers, which are later formed into galls. The male flowers 

 which line the opening do not mature till the insects are 

 hatched. The second kind only bear flgs, FicuS- The galls 

 in the caprificus are formed in this way. A small chalcid 

 wasp {Blastophaga grossorum) enters the urn through the 

 ostiolum and its ovipositor is thrust vertically in the style of 

 the flower. It deposits its eggs in the ovary of the female 

 flowers between the nucleus and the integuments placing one 



