I suppose the answer to these questions might be buried in Condit's book somewhere, but that is no fun.

1) In a smyrna type fig, requiring pollination, at what point in the season does the pollination take place - early on, or just prior to ripening?

2) What are the breeding requirements for producing a new smyrna type fig variety? Does the female parent have to be a smyrna type?

3) The picture above is of one of my seedlings. Many of the figs look like the one on the left: they appear to ripen, changing color, etc, but do not "size-up" and are dry inside like a caprifig. Some, like the one on the right, particularly later in the season, size-up and are quite good. So, is this a smyrna type (or possibly a san pedro type - since I do not know about breba crop due to pruning) that has only had some figs pollinated, or is something else at work here? My Zidi behaves very similarly: most of the fruit change color and drop off without sizing up, but some do size-up and are fabulous. It supposedly is a smyrna type.

So, must my seedling have had smyrna parents? It was presumed to be a seedling of Black Madeira, having been found under that tree, along with about a half a dozen others.

1. Don't know, but young figs are so dense and "tight", I don't think the wasps could get in very early.  Generally pollination usually takes place when a flower is mature.  It seems reasonable figs are the same.

2. The deciding factor is supposedly the male parent.  If it is persistent you will get a percentage of persistent progeny.  If not, all progeny will drop figs unless pollinated, even if the mother is a common fig.

3. Don't know, but seems as if it would be a Smyrna type if the caprifig that provided the pollen is non-persistent (but Black Madeira could still be the mother). 
I had read that getting just the right number of wasps to an orchard was a balancing act - too many and the figs are ruined - too few and you don't get a good crop ripening.  That might account for the behavior, but doesn't rule out other unknown factors.

Edit: Don't have to dig through Condit - Ray Givan's site covers it real well in the Weird Sex Life of Figs.

Been thinking about it some more.  The receptivity time can probably be determined by the time the unpollinated figs start to change color.  If they haven't been pollinated by a certain time (specific to each variety ??) they begin the drop process.  Pollination probably needs to occur shortly before this point.

I have read Ray's site many times, including his sex manual for figs, but hadn't noticed the part about the persistence gene.

I was curious about the timing of pollination because my Zidi, and the seedling, as well as two Marabouts seed fruit, but irregularly, some early in the season, then some drop, and then other mature again, so it appears that pollination takes place for a time, and then slacks off, and the resumes, perhaps?