Ii4 Lnsects on Yucca Blooms. [ ZOE 
her eggs in the ovary of the flower and the larve bore in the green 
seed-pod. The moth has been observed to convey the pollen from 
the anthers to the pistil by a special act, as though impelled by rea- 
son or instinct, that the fruit might not fail to be fertilized and thus 
afford food for her larve. Whether, however, no other insects are 
able to fertilize these flowers is a mooted question. The Pronuba 
works in the evening only, and thus necessitates the employment of 
a dark lantern, a stepladder, and a great portion of the night spent 
on plains or mesas, in order to intelligently investigate its opera- 
tions. As I have not been so situated that I could spend the proper 
time in the evenings on this work at the proper season, my observa- 
tions have been made wholly in the day time. Therefore I have 
not observed the Pronuba moth at all, but have made, however, a 
few notes on the larvee found in the pods as well as on other insects 
found in the flowers. 
_ In the first place I should say that what is here recorded was ob- 
served in the vicinity of Las Cruces, New Mexico; and that our 
native Yuccas belong, as far as can be at present determined, to two 
species. We have Yucca angustifolia; while the other is a broad- 
leafed species at first supposed to be Yucca éaccata, but which may 
prove to be Y. macrocarpa, in case the latter is a valid species. Mr, _ 
W. H. Evans, now of the Agricultural Department in Washington, 
gave me the above information and is now engaged looking up the 
matter. 
COLEOPTERA. 
Carpophilus niger Say, a smali beetle belonging to the family 
Nitidulidze, very plentifully infests the (flower) stalk buds of Y. ma- 
crocarpa (?) before the stalk has appeared, about the last of March 
or first of April. They eat holes in the outer covering and inside 
portions of the large flower stalk, which at first has the appearance 
of a bud in the center of the plant. They are also found later in 
_ the flowers. 
_ Epicauta cinctipennis Chev. (?) Adult blister beetles, very much 
resembling this Mexican species, were found in the blooms of Y. 
macrocarpa(?) by Prof. Wooton, of the New Mexico Agricultural 
College, May 15, 1892. Several specimens were collected. 
A ryhncophorous (?) larva was found, May 15, 1891, in the tip 
end of a pod of ¥. macrocarpa (?) which had been picked May 1o. 
Tt is a small white larva, apparently coleopterous, nearly 5 mm. 
