All’ amico mondagli il fico.

(Italian Proverb.)

The extension of the War to Turkey and Asia Minor has drawn attention to the existence of certain insects whose larvae exercise a very deleterious effect on valuable food-supplies in the Near East. The inhabitants of Asiatic Turkey, without knowing it, have from time immemorial adopted the advice of Captain Cuttle: ‘Train up a fig-tree in the way it should go, and when you are old sit under the shade on it. Overhaul the—— Well,’ said the Captain, ‘on second thoughts, I ain’t quite certain where that’s to be found, but when found, make a note of.’

Asia Minor may indeed be described as the fig-ground of the East, and anything that interferes with the fig as a food is likely to interfere with the well-being of our troops

in Egypt and the Near East. In ‘The Minor Horrors of War,’ I described a species of moth, Ephestia kühniella, a member of the family Pyralidae, which infests and destroys Army biscuits; but this other species, E. cautella, which attacks figs, is even more troublesome than the one described in the above-mentioned book.[14]

Whoever has attentively eaten dried figs must from time to time have become aware that there is something very defective in their flavour, and on close inspection little clusters of débris will be observed on the outside of the dried fruit—the dejecta of the larva burrowing within—and numerous round holes can be detected through which the larvae have made their entrance. If cut open and carefully examined, one or two small white grubs may be found, which give the fig a singularly sour-bitter and most unpleasant taste. This is the larva of the moth, Ephestia cautella which has for the last four or five years been attracting much attention in the Levant market. From 15 to 50 per cent. of the figs exported from Smyrna, the great centre of the fig-trade, are infected with this ‘worm,’ and active steps were being taken before the War spread to the Near East to check its ravages. The moth itself is very like E. kühniella, but readily distinguished by an entomologist. Originally, it seems to have come from Asiatic Turkey, but by the aid of commerce it has been distributed in a broad belt all round the world within certain limits of temperature. Wide as its distribution now is, it is equally catholic in its tastes. Perhaps it does as much harm to the chocolate trade as to any other, attacking the cacao-bean as well as the prepared article; all sorts of nuts are infested. At one time it was thought that the oil of the nuts was the attraction, but the larvae flourish just as well on rice and bran, on dried apples, dried insects, maize, and a great variety of other more or less nutritive substances.

But to return to the figs. So serious was the trouble felt to be in the American fig-market that, in 1910, the authorities at Washington sent Mr. E. G. Smyth of the Bureau of Entomology to investigate the insect in Asia Minor, where the figs come from, and from his report the following account is taken:—

Mr. Smyth’s object was first to find out at what stage the figs become infected by the moth, and then if possible to suggest preventive or remedial measures. He minutely investigated every stage in the preservation of figs, from the ripe fruit on the tree to the preserved figs in the hold on the steamer bound for New York, and the conclusion he came to is this: With very rare exceptions the eggs are never laid on the fruit whilst on the tree. The first and by far the most important infection is when the figs are gathered and exposed on the reed ‘serghi.’ Then about seven in the evening the moths begin to appear, and steadily increase in number as the evening wears on. The actual deposition of the ova cannot be observed, for the moths get down amongst the reeds and lay their eggs on the under surface of the fruit—usually in some crack or abrasion—so that the newly hatched larva can more easily make an entrance into the fig. From some ‘counts’ made at Tchifte Kaive it appears that after an exposure of one night 29 per cent. of figs were infested, after two nights 38·5 per cent., and after three nights 44·5 per cent.

A second and serious source of infection is at the village depots. Before the figs arrive, there seem to be no specimens of the Ephestia in the buildings; but with their arrival the moth appears, and so favourable is the shelter from the heat and the wind, and so abundant is the supply of figs as sack after sack is emptied on to the floor, that soon the moth is more abundant in the depots than amongst the ‘serghi,’ and the wonder is that a single fig escapes infestation. Fortunately, the time spent in the depots is short, often only a night; were it much longer, the whole crop would suffer. On their way down to the coast again there is little or no risk of the moth, but arriving at Smyrna we pick up the insect again in the ‘khans,’ where the figs are prepared for export, but in the larval form. Here, in August and September, little trace of the insect is seen, the larvae are then too small to emerge and pupate; but by October many full-grown larvae may be found on the fig-heaps or crawling up the walls; a few pupate inside the figs, and these probably produce the few imagines found in the ‘khans,’ at the port of shipping. The unpleasantness of the larvae crawling all about the ship greatly detracts from the pleasure of a voyage on a vessel laden with Smyrna figs.

With regard to preventive measures, there seems in many parts of Asia Minor to be two crops of figs—one in May and June and one later. The former produces a large, watery fig, unfit for sale. It is left to rot on the ground, but it serves as food for the larvae which will produce the myriad swarms of moths in the early autumn. Obviously these worthless figs should be destroyed as completely as possible. Equally obvious are the suggestions that the figs should be covered at night with some cheap covering whilst on the ‘serghi,’ and screened from the moth whilst in the depots, and their sojourn there should be as short as possible. Measures for destroying the larvae in the fig usually take the form of heat—either hot air, hot water, or steam. Each is effective, and each has certain advantages and disadvantages; still, the more progressive merchants of Smyrna were, before the War, experimenting trying to find the best means of destroying the larvae, and in time a uniform system will probably emerge.