THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



141 



wheat crop may in most cases be saved. 

 It should be remembered that the first 

 brood should be thus circumvented or de- 

 stroyed in order that a second brood may 

 not appear. 



5. If the wheat be only partially affected 

 it may be saved by fertilizers and careful 

 cultivation ; or a badly damaged field of 

 winter wheat may thus be recuperated in 

 the spring. 



6. Pasturing with sheep and consequent 

 close cropping of the winter wheat in No- 

 vember and early December may cause 

 many of the eggs, larv£e and flaxseeds to be 

 destroyed ; also, rolling the ground may 

 have nearly the same effect. 



7. Sowing hardy varieties. The Under- 

 bill Mediterranean wheat, and especially 

 the Clawson variety, which tillers vigorously, 

 should be sown in preference to the slighter, 

 less vigorous kinds, in a region much in- 

 fested by the fly. The early August sown 

 wheat might be Diehl, the late sown Claw- 

 son. 



8. Of special remedies, the use of lime, 

 soot or salt may be recommended; also 

 raking off the stubble ; but too close cut- 

 ting of the wheat and burning of the stub- 

 ble are of doubtful use, as this destroys 

 the useful parasites as well as the flies. 



PROBABLE GEOGRAPHICAL LIMITS OF THE 

 HESSIAN FLY. 



The question naturally arises whether 

 this pest will ever infest the wheat regions 

 of Western Dakota, Montana, Utah, Col- 

 orado, and the Pacific States and Terri- 

 tories. We believe not, though aware that 

 such a statement may be hazardous. It 

 was originally an inhabitant of Central and 

 Southern Europe ; it has become accli- 

 mated in the Eastern, Atlantic and Middle 

 States, in the valley of the upper St. Law- 

 rence and in the valley of the Mississippi 

 River ; that it can thrive in the elevated, 

 dry Rocky Mountain plateau regions, with- 

 stand the cool nights and dry, hot at- 

 mosphere of the Far West, seems very 

 doubtful. At least so slowly has it spread 

 westward ; so slight an amount of wheat or 

 straw is transported, all produce of this 



kind going eastward, that we doubt whether 

 during this century at least it will extend 

 west of Kansas and Minnesota, where it 

 has already had a foothold for several 



years. 



^ — .^ 



THE TRUE AND THE BOGUS YUCCA MOTH; 



WITH REMARKS ON THE POLLINATION 



OF YUCCA. 



BY THE EDITOR. 



In our first article on Pronuba yuccasella, 

 read before the St. Louis Academy of 

 Science, September 2, 1872, we referred to 

 a smaller, apodous larva that is frequently 

 found in the seed-pods of Yucca aloifolia, 

 sometimes in considerable numbers, feed- 

 ing upon the flesh of the fruit. We stated 

 at the time that " it may be traced from 

 slight depressions on the outside, and 

 shows Hymenopterous affinities. It oc- 

 casionally gnaws into the seed from the 

 outside, but its legless character at once 

 distinguishes it from the larva of Pronuba." 

 In our attempts to get further specimens 

 of the larva and to rear it, we have been 

 led to the discovery of the curious little 

 moth characterized in the Descriptive De- 

 partment of this number as Prodoxus 

 decipiens. For while the larva certainly 

 does show " Hymenopterous affinities " 

 and is well calculated to deceive, especi- 

 ally when it has the pale color, as when 

 found inhabiting the fruit as above quoted, 

 yet it turns out to be Lepidopterous. Fur- 

 ther experience shows, however, that it is 

 by no means confined to the fruit, but in- 

 fests far more commonly the flower-stems 

 of different species of Yucca and particu- 

 larly Y. rupicola. In the winter and 

 spring of 1879 we received flower-stems 

 of Y. aloifolia and Y. gloriosa collected 

 on different occasions in various Southern 

 States by Mr. E. A. Schwarz and contain- 

 ing this larva. The moth was reared by 

 us from these specimens in considerable 

 numbers in May 1879. The species proved 

 to be identical with specimens received 

 some years before from Dr. J. H. Melli- 

 champ, of Bluffton, S. C, who took tljem 

 from Yucca flowers. Though smaller in 

 size and lacking some of the essential 



