Note 1477 — Chapter IV · (continued 3)

Count Solms Laubach, in a learned discussion (Herkunft, Domestication, etc., des Feigenbaums, in 4to, 1882), has himself observed facts of this nature already indicated by various authors. He did not find the seed provided with embryos (p. 64), which he attributes to the absence of the insect (Blastophaga), which generally lives in the wild fig, and facilitates the fertilization of one flower by another in the interior of the fruit. It is asserted, however, that fertilization occasionally takes place without the intervention of the insect.