FIG -WASP. 



fruits of the Caprifig produced in October generally ripen 

 in April. Then the second crop begins, and ends in June or 

 luh': then the third which lasts all through the summer. All 

 these Capritigs bear carpellar\' flowers in their inner cavity; 

 but these are singularly modified, for they possess only 

 undeveloped carpels which are not a,dapted either for 

 pollination or fructification, but for forming galls. In 

 most Caprifigs there are. at the upper end of the cavity 

 close under the aperture, normal pollen-forming staminate 

 dowers. These are never missing in those fruits which 

 ripen in June and July, and it is these which are generally 

 called "Profichi" in Italy. But all three crops of fruit 

 are uneatable, and, even when ripe, are milky tough and 

 contain no sugar. They are inhabited by a kind of wasp, 

 Blastophaga grossoriim. These get into the Caprifig 

 through the aperture, seek out the imperfect carpellary 

 flowers, and lay an egg in each. A white larva is hatched 

 from the ^^^, while the carpel itself swells up into a gall. 

 In this gall the larva pupates and then the fully deve- 

 loped wasp bites a hole in the gall and sets itself free. 

 The males come out first, and the females, when fertilised, 

 make their way to the orifice to leave the fig. At the 

 same time the staminate flowers shed their pollen and 

 the wasps are dusted with it as thej' push through. It 

 occasionally happens that a Cajjrifig will produce normal 

 carpellary flowers which bear fertile seeds. But this is not 

 the true function of the Caprifig, whose object is to provide 

 accomodation and maintenance for the Blastophagae. 

 The normal carpellar}' flowers are produced by the true 

 Fig-tree, the one that bears the edible figs. Most of 



