C 171 ] 
when lpeaking of the palm-tree, fays, “ that the 
“ Greeks call fome of thefe trees male, the fruit of 
“ which they bind to the other kind, which bears 
tC dates j that the fmall flies, wherewith the male 
u abounds, may aflift in ripening the fruit ; for, fays 
<c this author, the male palm-tree produces in its 
“ fruit fmall flies, juft as the fig-tree does/' The very 
remote age, in which Herodotus wrote, fufficiently 
apologizes for his believing, that what was really 
brought about by the farina fee cundam of the male 
flower, was to be attributed to the infedts frequently 
found therein, and which perhaps very often do carry 
this farina from the male to the female. They had 
feen the effedts of caprification in fig-trees by thefe 
infedts, and were mi fled by the analogy. I have here 
tranflated them fmall flies, but they had a particular 
appellation given them by Herodotus, Ariflotle *, 
and Theophraflus, who call them Pliny, in 
his hiftory, when treating of caprification, which is 
almoft a tranflation from Theophraflus, calls them 
culices , Linnaeus ichneumones , and Tournefort mou- 
chero?is. 
Theophraflus §, the moft early writer of plants, 
except Ariflotle, that has been handed down to us, 
in his account of the palm-tree gives us the very 
procefs mentioned by our correfpondent. <c They 
“ bring together (fays this author) the males and 
“ the females, which caufes the fruit to continue, 
“ and ripen upon the trees. Some, from the fimili- 
Y 2 “ tude 
* Ariftoteles mft { uuv . O i cN epiyot - - - - tyjsTi r<$s 
'liit'ctt. 
§ Theoph. <$rf}uv. •Kes. 0. 
