Tineidse 
Fig. 256. — P. quinquepunc- 
tella. a, moth with wings folded ; 
l’>, moth with wings expanded; 
c, enlarged maxillary palpus. 
(After Riley.) 
wood-burrowing /Egerians. The cut, Fig. 255, .taken from the 
writings of Professor C. V. Riley, has more value as an explan¬ 
ation of the facts in the case than a 
whole page of verbal description 
would have. The species of the genus 
Prodoxus all appear upon the wing 
before those of the genus Pronub a , 
the former having no function to per¬ 
form in connection with the fertiliza¬ 
tion of the flowers, and being on the 
spotto oviposit while the flower-stems 
are still soft and easily capable of be¬ 
ing cut into by the ovipositor of the 
female, while Pronuba must wait until the flowers are opening and 
the tissues of these portions of the plant are ready for the peculiar 
operations which the perpetuation of the life both of the plant 
and the insect call for. 
(2) Prodoxus marginatus Riley. 
The accompanying cut serves to show the characteristic fea¬ 
tures of this species of the genus. The figure at a gives a view of 
the last abdominal segment of the 
female magnified twenty-six di¬ 
ameters. The basal joint of the 
ovipositor is represented at bjo, 
the terminal joint at tjo , and the 
oviduct at ov. Figure c repre¬ 
sents the claspers of the male 
viewed from above. A view of 
the fore wing magnified five 
Fig. 257 —P. marginatus. (After t' mes is S iven at P r •> and b Y il 
Riley, “ insect Life,” Yol. iv, p. 373.) the species may be known. 
(3) Prodoxus y-inversa Riley. 
The main characteristics of a third species of the genus are 
given in Fig. 258. The left front wing is represented at a, the 
hair-line beneath serving to show the natural size of the wing. 
By looking at the figure upside down the reader will understand 
why the specific name which was given to the moth originally 
suggested itself. The genitalia of the male moth are represented 
at b enlarged fourteen diameters. This view is taken from above 
439 
