YUCCA MOTH AND YUCCA POLLINATION. 123 
in St. Louis and whose interest and enthusiasm have never 
failed to produce good results in any special work he has 
done for me. 
In this connection I take pleasure in reproducing some 
experiences of Professor Trelease’s, as communicated to me 
last July, not so much because they so fully confirm my 
own, as because they are in such refreshing contrast, in 
their accuracy and insight, to those of some others who 
have published on the subject. He writes: — 
*‘In addition to my observations noted in Bulletin Torrey Club, 1886, 
185, I have watched the moths at work in 1890 and 1891—the only 
seasons when I[ have been at home during the blooming season — and 
have had my assistants, Duffey and Webber, make independent observa- 
tions and demonstrate pollination to our garden pupils. The observa- 
tions were made on Y. jilamentosa, including its various forms cultivated 
in St. Louis under other names. Each act of oviposition is so promptly 
followed by pollination that the moth seems to have it on her mind to 
perform the latter as a sequel to the former, and I am disposed to think 
that my belief that either might occur first came from the first observa- 
tion in a given case happening to begin between the two acts. I have 
not positively confirmed my observations on the use of the tongue in 
pollination, though Webber feels certain that he has this year seen it 
so used. I do not, therefore, look on it as normal—and this would 
lessen the probability of the habit of thrusting pollen into the stigmatic 
chamber having been acquired whiie the moth was feeding on the stig- 
matic fluid. The latter varies much in quantity, and as you have stated, 
frequently fills the chamber, especially in the early morning. The septal 
glands are quite as inactive as I at first stated; but this year we have 
several times in the early morning found abundant watery fluid both 
within and outside the perianth, as noted by Meehan, but without ascer- 
taining its source. I am certain, however, from its position, that little 
if any comes from the glands. Before 9 a. m. we have several times this 
year seen a few hive bees gathering this fluid, both within the flower 
and from the outside, and I once saw a bee (Apis) probing, but appar- 
ently unsuccessfully and very hastily, the space between the bases of 
the filaments, and consequently the outlets of the nectar ducts. In ad- 
dition to my assistants and pupils I have shown the acts of oviposition 
and pollination to the Vice-President of our Board, to Coulter, Evans 
and several other visitors to the Garden, as well as to my wife and her 
sister. Every one who has seen the work done shares your opinion and 
my own as to the intention shown by the moth. We notice that almost 
invariably the moth goes down to near the base of the stamens, then 
creeps up, gets settled between two stamens and backs down a consid- 
erable distance while testing the surface of the ovary with the ovipositor 
