CAPRIFICATION || Capsa.
ripening. He examined the parts of fructification of the fig; and he observes, if this examination be made previous to the ripening, that round the eye of the fig, and in the substance of its covering, may be seen triangular dentated leaves, pressed one against another; and under these leaves are the stamina, whose pollen is destined for the impregnation of the grains, which fill the rest of the fruit. These male organs are much more numerous in the wild-fig than in the domestic; and the stamina are found to contain a yellow dust, which may be collected when it is ripe. The wild figs, when ripe, are not succulent, and have no taste, though the grains are disposed in the same manner as in the other kind. The pith of the grain of the wild fruit serves as food to a species of the cynips, whose larva is white, till the moment of its transformation; and it is by an opening, in the direction of the pistil, that the insect penetrates the grain. From this account it is thought probable that the insect is only communicated by accident to the domestic fig, and that the flowers of this genus are sometimes hermaphrodites. But the number of hermaphrodite flowers being fewer on the cultivated than on the wild fig, the seeds are fecundated more certainly and quickly by the caprication; and every botanist knows, that when the impregnation is completed, the flower soon withers; while, if by any accident it is delayed, it continues in bloom much longer. This view of the subject, therefore, explains very completely the reason why, in Malta, the caprication is practised on the late kind of figs, because it hastens the formation and maturity of the fruit.