FolUnaiiov and OvipoKifion. 



87 



rule, is aceoinplished in sDiue othei- flower than that from which 

 tlic pollen was gathered, and that cross-fertilization is thus se- 

 cured. 



" Once fully equipped with this important commodit.y, she 

 may l)e seen either crawling over or resting within the flower, 

 generally Avith the head toward the hase. From time to time 

 she makes a sudden dart and deftly runs around the stamens, 

 and anon takes a position with the hody hetween and the legs 

 straddling two of them, her head being usually turned toward 

 the stigma. As the terminal portion of the stamens is always 

 more or less recurved, she generally has to retreat between two 

 of them until the tip of her abdomen can reach the pistil. As 



Pio. .*?. — Flower of Yucca filamcnlosa with nt'.w pstiils ivmoved, sliduiiii;- l'i-oiiuli;i in 

 act of oviposit ins. 



soon as a favorable point is reached, generally just below the 

 middle, she rests motionless for a short time, when the alulomen 

 is slightly raised and the lance-like oviposit(M- is thrust into the 

 soft tissue, held there the best part of a minute, while the egg is 

 conducted to its destination, and then withdrawn by a series of 

 up-and-down motions. 



■' In non-technical language, the pistil or the young fruit, l)e- 

 low the stigmatic tube, shows externally at this time six quite 

 distinct longitudinal divisions, each having a median ridge, there 

 being six corresponding depressions or concavities in which the 

 six stamens fit, especially at the base. Technicallv, the |)istil is 

 a three-celled ovary, the styles bifid ;\t ti[) :in<l united so as to 



