December, ’20] FERRIS: INSECTS OF LOWER CALIFORNIA 
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The Symbiosis 
The Symbiosis is one of the most interesting and of the greatest 
importance known. Walter T. Swingle, in an article in Science , says, 
“the Symbiosis is doubtless one of the oldest known, all of the hun¬ 
dreds of species of figs being inhabited by insects of a special family, 
Agaonidse, which are all adapted to their peculiar habitat, while the figs 
appear as if specially constructed to nourish and protect the insects 
on which they are completely dependent for pollination.” To show 
the intimate relation, or interdependence, of the insect and plant, it 
may be mentioned that the larva causes the mamme caprifig to hold 
on during the winter; furthermore, at the time the female has reached 
maturity and is ready to propagate the species, the anthers of thestam- 
inate flowers of the caprifig have burst, and are shedding quantities 
of pollen, and as if nature, seemingly to facilitate her exit, the bracts, 
which previously were flat over the eye, raise up and stand erect, 
permitting her easy passage. In some of the Ficus species, the male 
tunnels a passage for the escape of the female from the receptacle. 
Smyrna Fig Growing a Promising Industry 
The Smyrna fig industry is forging ahead in the great valley of 
California, and promises to soon become scarcely second to the raisin 
industry. Within five or six years, hundreds of carloads of dried 
Smyrna figs will leave the state to take the place of the fifteen or twenty 
million pounds annually imported from Asia Minor and other fig 
growing countries. And this great industry will be due to the minute, 
but beneficent, insect —Blastophaga psenes. 
Chairman A. L. Melander: The Secretary will now also read a 
paper by Mr. G. F. Ferris. 
INSECTS OF ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE IN THE CAPE 
REGION OF LOWER CALIFORNIA, MEXICO 
By G. F. Ferris, Stanford University , Cal . 
The Cape Region of Lower California 
When the newspapers of the United States speak of Lower Cali¬ 
fornia they almost invariably mean nothing more than that portion 
of Lower California lying immediately south of the United States 
boundary. The part of the peninsula included in what is known 
politically as the Southern District is but seldom thought of. 
To the extreme southern portion of the peninsula, terminating in 
Cape San Lucas, scientific writers have applied the term “Cape 
