FURTHER STUDIES OF YUCCAS. 187 



season is later than on the desert and in the warmer valleys 

 further north. On this occasion I was accompanied by Mr. 

 C. R. Orcutt, who informs me that the seeds of baccata are 

 in some seasons very much eaten by larvae, probably of 

 Pronuba;* and the cluster of perforated fruits figured on 

 the accompanying plate was photographed many years ago 

 in the same region. Though the oldest pistils were less 

 developed here that at Cabazon, there was abundant evi- 

 dence that they had been oviposited in by Pronuba, 

 several individuals of which were taken in the flowers. 



The flowers of this Yucca, though they are as variable 

 in form as those of the eastern capsular species, agree, so 

 far as I have observed, in having the sepals decidedly urn- 

 bonate at the base, as is also frequently the case with 

 aloifolia, so that each flower appears somewhat as if con- 

 stricted immediately abovo the bottom. In color they 

 range from creamy white, often with a tinge of green, to a 

 decided brown purple, the perianth being always very glossy, 

 and they are slightly and delicately fragrant. The mi- 

 nutely papillate filaments vary much in length, but com- 

 monly reach to about the base of the style, where they are 

 more or less abruptly thickened and bent outwards. In 

 one observed case, however, they were as long as the entire 

 pistil. A curious feature observed in dried specimens as 

 well as in recently fertilized flowers with drying stamens, 

 is the strong recurving of the upper part of the filaments 

 shown on plate 48 of the last Report, but never observed 

 in fresh unfertilized flowers, as it often is in Y. Treculeana. 



The anthers do not appear to dehisce quite as promptly 

 as in the filamentosa group, where there is practically no 

 dichogamy, so that in this species the Pronuba is more 

 likely of necessity to have derived her load of pollen from 

 another flower when she begins pollination on one which is 

 newly expanded ; but the protogyny noted scarcely extends 

 beyond the evening on which the flower opens, so that it is 



* Specimens of old fruit received since the above was written are 

 badly infested by an undetermined beetle. 



