C .96 > 
the difpofition of the fbraens and piftils in 
the flowers of the different plants. The fig 
(ficus cariea) long perplexed the botanic world, 
to difcover by what mode the duft of the 
ftamens could be conveyed to the piftil, as 
thefe parts of fructification are enclofed within 
feparate fruit, this fruit not being a feed- 
veffel, but a receptacle furrounding the fta- 
mens and piflils, which grow upon it ; and 
fome of them fo . clofely immured, that the 
manner in which they are fertilized was in- 
cornprehenfible. At length it was difcovered, 
that a kind of gnat depofited it's- eggs in thefe 
receptacles, and, by going from one kind of 
fig to the other, was fuppofed to bear on it's 
wings the anther duft of the ftam en- bearing 
fig to the ftigmas of that which contained only 
piftils. This procefs performed by the gnat 
was called caprification, and was fo ftrongly 
believed to be eiTential to the ripening of the 
cultivated fig, that the inhabitants of the 
Archipelago, who trade with their figs, fpent 
much time in obferving the critical moment 
of the gnat iftuing out of one kind of fig and 
entering the other, and fometimes gathered 
the fruit, in which the gnat was contained, 
and brought it to that which they wilhcd to 
have 
