Egyptian Figs

Abstract

THE accompanying sketch represents an instrument used in Egypt for removing the “eye” or top of the sycomore fig. It is a piece of hoop iron, blunt on one edge and tolerably sharp on the other, and fixed into the end of a stick. The fruit of Ficus sycomorus, or “Egyptian fig,” seems to be invariably infested with the insect Sycophaga crassipes, Westw.; which I am informed by Rev. T. F. Marshall, who has kindly given me the name, is the same insect supposed to effect caprification in Malta, judging from specimens which I sent him. This fig never produces ripe seed in Egypt, though it has been introduced from the earliest times. Not only are the ancient coffins made of the wood, but it was adopted as the sacred “Tree of Life.”