[27] The curious word ολυνθαζειν {olynthazein}, here translated _to use the wild fig_, is from ολυνθος {olynthos}, a kind of wild fig which seldom ripens. The special meaning here given to the word is explained in another work of Theophrastus, _De causis plantarum_, ii. 9, xv. After describing caprification in figs, he says το δε επι των φοινικων συμβαινον ου ταυτον μεν, εχει δε τινα ὁμοιοτητα τουτω δι' ὁ καλουσιν ολυνθαζειν αυτους {to de epi tôn phoinikôn symbainon ou tauton men, echei de tina homoiotêta toutô di' ho kalousin olynthazein autous} 'The same thing is not done with dates, but something analogous to it, whence this is called ολυνθαζειν' {olynthazein'}. [28] _Historia plantarum_, ii. 8, iv. [29] Herodotus i. 193. The comparison of the fertilization of the date palm to the use of the wild fig refers to the practice of Caprification. Theophrastus tells us that there are certain trees, the fig among them, which are apt to shed their fruit prematurely. To remedy this 'the device adopted is caprification. Gall insects come out of the wild figs which are hanging there, eat the tops of the cultivated figs, and so make them swell'.[30] These gall-insects 'are engendered from the seeds'.[31] Theophrastus distinguished between the process as applied to the fig and the date, observing that 'in both [fig and date] the male aids the female--for they call the fruit-bearing [palm] _female_--but whilst in the one there is a union of the two sexes, in the other things are different'.[32] [30] _Historia plantarum_, ii. 8, i. [31] _Ibid._ ii. 8, ii. [32] _Historia plantarum_, ii. 8, iv.