Pollination and Fertilization 



131 



cultivated in gardens is known as the Fly-catcher. Toward 

 evening all kinds of moths are caught by their feet between the 

 edges of two stamens just where two parcels are joined together 

 by a black gland. Most of the prisoners have a short sentence, 

 as will be found by looking for them the next morning. One 

 beautiful moth imprisoned overnight 

 was seen to escape next day, but it 

 carried a pollinium with it, as it 

 escaped with a jerk, from the little 

 slot where the gland is situated. 



Flowers are not at home to all 

 visitors. The sticky juice covering 

 the upper portion of the stems of 

 heaths and of other flowers prevents 

 ants from scaling the heights to rob 

 the honey within the flower. Flowers 

 are often closed when unwelcome 

 guests are flying about. The opening 

 and closing of flowers at certain times 

 of the day led Linnaeus to arrange 

 a floral clock, but the movements 

 of flowers, like those of leaves, are 

 regulated by varying conditions of 

 temperature and sunshine, so it 

 would not do to depend upon such 

 a timepiece for getting to school on 

 time. 



When moths and beetles are 

 flying about our lamps, have you 

 ever wondered what they are about 

 so late at night ? It will be worth while to visit flowers with 

 a lantern to find out. 



The story of the Yucca and its moth has been often told 

 since it was found out in 1890,^ but it is so interesting that it 

 will bear repeating. The Yucca, which bears its majestic 

 panicles in many of our gardens from November till January, 

 has come from Mexico. The flowers are scentless during the 

 ' C. V. Riley, Missouri Experiment Station Report, 1891, 



Fig 



145. — The Proiiuba moth 

 gathering pollen from the sta- 

 men of Yucca to carry to the 

 stigma. (From the " Popular 

 Science Monthly.") 



