258 



November, 1913 



if this insect were by anv chance 

 to die out ever\- fig tree in exis- 

 tence Cif the intervention of man 

 in the matter of propagating by( 

 cuttings be left out) in a few 

 }-«ars would perish off the face of 

 the earth. The converse also 

 holds good : if the fig trees died 

 thie insect would be wiped out. 



In the ca.<?e of Ficus carica, this 

 little in.sect is known as Blasto- 

 phaga grossorum, and none of the 

 other Blastophagas, of which there 

 are a great manv species known, 

 inhabiting a number of different 

 varieties of Ficus, could do the 

 work. 



The female wasp to look at is 

 verv much like a small black 

 ant, about one-eio-hth of an inch 

 in lenp^th, vAth wings mostlv held 

 at rieht angles in a vertical direc- 

 tion to the bodv, which sfives her 

 rather a haxiehtv appearance as 

 she struts round after emerging 

 from the Capri fig. 



The male is somewliat smaller, 

 and looks much like an ordinary 

 quarter-irrown flea with a tele- 

 scopic oWpo.sito-r. His si?ht is 

 verv bad, having onlv part^v de- 

 veloned compound eves and no 

 ocelli. He never leaves the in- 

 terior of the fio", but emerges from 

 the Fall, in which he has _PTown 

 up somewhat sooner' than the fe- 

 male, and busies himself hv going 

 round fertilizinp- her before • she 

 leaves the trail in which she has 

 been bred, so that when she 

 em-er^es from the ^'i'" she immedi- 

 atelv sijts about looking for an- 

 other fig in which to lav her egsrs. 



In making her way out of the 

 eve of the fruit she has to push 

 through quite a tancrle of male 

 flowers, and, covered with pollen, 

 she bursts into the outer world 

 and enters anv convenient fig, 

 whclther it be Capri or Smvrna. 

 If it happens to be the former, 

 she lavs her egtrs in the gall 

 flowers and soon aftter dies. 



If the latter, she finds no gall 

 flowe'rs, and rushes roimd in ra- 

 ther excited state, snreadinrr the 

 pollen grains with which she is 

 co\"«red on the receptive Part of 

 the female flo\\"ers of the Smvrna 

 fig, which thus becomes fertib'/ed. 

 In her futile nuest for a suitable 

 place in which to lav her egp"s, 

 she will probably drop one here 

 and there, but soon pi'ves it np 

 and usually dies in thp fig. 



— Capri Fig Trees. — 



For the maintenance of the gen- 

 erations of the little wasps there 

 must be a tree or trees on which 



there is always fruit, or rather 

 that carry overlapping crops al- 

 ways at a suitable stage for the 

 reception of the insect. These 

 crops must also contain suitable 

 receptacles for the insects' eggs. 

 Such a tree is the Capri ficus or 

 Capri fig tree, which bea-rs and 

 brings to maturity three crops in 

 one year. In each of these crops 

 are found gall flowers, which seem 

 to have been specially evolved to 

 suit the breeding peculiarities of 

 the insect. 



The: three crops borne by the 

 Capri fig tree are : — 



1. Profichi crop, which contains 

 gall and male flowers. 



2. Mammoni crop, which con- 

 tains gall and female flowers. 



^. Mammei crop, which con- 

 tains .gall and male flowers. 



The insects from the profichi 

 crop tro into the mammoni crop 

 and lay. Those hatchiup- out 

 from' this laving come from the 

 mammoni crop, 'enter the ma^n- 

 mei crop, and lav. 



The insects from ' this laving 

 come from the mammei crop 

 enter the profichi crop, and lay, 

 and so on, ad infinitum, as long 

 as there are figs at a suitable 

 stage for the insects to operate 

 on. 



To insure proper overlapping of 

 the crops, it is hardly safe to 

 depend on one varietv of Capri 

 tree, so that in practice at least 

 three varieties rii^eninor- at slif^ht- 

 ly difierent periods are plante(?. 



This also tends to lengthen the 

 period of emergence. Kven then 

 from various causes, sufch as 

 frosts, droughts, etc., sometimes 

 the in.sects are lost thronTh not 

 haviiig figs to go into. T^Hien this 

 happens thev must be obtained 

 from somewhere else and re-estab- 

 li.shed in the Capri trees when the 

 next crop is at the ri<rht sta-j^e. 



The time at which the ri.sk is 

 great'?st is between the nrofichi 

 and mammoni crops. Millions of 

 insects cmerc^e early from the 

 profichi crop before there is a 

 siirn of the com.iu"' mammoni 

 crop on the trees. .Ml these pe'r- 

 ish, and -it is onlv the insects 

 com in r from the very latest pro- 

 fichi that have an opportunity of 

 gettinir into a. few of the most 

 advanced of the mammoni crop. 



.\s the wasp likes cool places 

 ;ind shade, the Capri fig trees are 

 usually planted close together, 12 



ft. by 12 ft., lo ft. by 13 ft., or in 

 hedge rows about 10 to ' 12 ft. 

 apart. The branches in a few years 

 .should shade the whole of the 

 ground. The}^ need practically no 

 pruning, and most, if not all, the 

 suckers are allowed to grow up 

 round the tree. The figs on these 

 are later in coming to maturity 

 than those on the main stem. 



It is advisable to plant so that 

 you can irrigate at least a few 

 of the trees ; this assures a plenti- 

 ful supply of buds, and somewhat 

 retards ripeninsr, and so lengthens 

 the period of emergence. 



— IMethbd of Caprif\^ng. — 



This is done by stringing a 

 number, say five to ten Capri figs 

 (profichi crop) on a bit of twine 

 raffia, ru.sh, or some such mate- 

 rial, just about the time the in- 

 .siect begins to emerge. This period 

 can be gaus^ed within a day or 

 two by cutting open a few of the 

 figs and observing if there are a 

 number of males busy nfioving 

 about the galls. ' If this is so the 

 fertilized females will very soon 

 eat their way through the little 

 galls and thence out th-roueh the 

 e-^'e of the fig ; the fruit at this 

 stage also becomes sof^ to the 

 touch. 



The strings of fies that have 

 been prepared are then placed here 

 and there among the branches of 

 the Smyrna trees either by throw- 

 ing them up in the* tree or placing 

 them where required with a long 

 light pole .such as a bamboo. In 

 some cases for the first caprifica- 

 tion four or five figs are placed in 

 little wire ba.skets tied -in different 

 parts of the tree. For small or 

 young trees a couple or three 

 strinfs vsHth, say, five fip-s on each 

 would be sufficient for all the figs 

 that would be likely to be fit. 

 Very large tirees will take up to 

 fift-'- figs to do the first caprifvinn-. 

 .\s the Smvrna figs are not all 

 fit to receive the insect at one 

 time it is advisable to give the 

 trees a fresh lot of Capris in about 



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