FLOWERS AND INSECTS 2538 
it is evident that neither the wind nor an ordinary insect 
can transfer the pollen. This is effected by the small fig 
wasp that passes its whole existence within the figs. Its 
real home is the staminate fig (caprifig), and there it 
deposits its eggs and dies. The new generation of fig 
wasps crawl out of the old fig, and entering another one 
that is young deposit their eggs and die, and so on. A 
staminate fig-tree usually bears three crops of caprifigs each 
year, the tree never being without a crop; and so three 
generations of fig wasps are produced in the year, and there 
is always a home for them. 
When a branch bearing staminate figs is placed in a 
tree bearing pistillate ones, the young. wasps crawling out 
of the former enter the latter, which at this stage closely 
resemble the caprifigs. Having entered, the wasps find 
themselves in a trap, for the flower structures are such that 
they cannot deposit eggs properly. But their bodies are 
covered with pollen from their former home, and running 
about among the pistillate flowers they pollinate them very 
completely. As a consequence, the pistillate fig ripens, 
forms numerous seeds, and acquires the peculiar nutty 
flavor that characterizes it. 
Pistillate figs ripen without this process, but they do 
not set seed nor acquire the characteristic flavor, nor can 
they be dried for shipping. They can only be used as 
fresh figs, and are not at all the ordinary figs of commerce, 
known as Smyrna figs. During the last years of the past 
century the United States Department of Agriculture, 
after several failures, succeeded in introducing the fig wasp 
into California, so that real Smyrna figs are now being 
grown in our own country. 
149. Hybrids.—In the transfer of pollen by wind and 
insects, some of it may reach stigmas belonging to a differ- 
ent kind of plant. If this plant is nearly related to the one 
that has produced the pollen, fertilization may result. 
