305 



more or less complete circuit of their bases, and then quickly ascends to the very top 

 of the pistil, her thorax rather higher than the end of the stigma, and with her short 

 hut strong ovipositor cuts through the thin wall into the stylar channel, rarely as 

 much as 2"^™ below the tip of the stigma, meantime holding fast to the i>istil, the 

 stamens being below her reach. The long extensile oviduct is then passed through 

 the puncture, the egg being laid appai'ently within the ovarian cell, along the funic- 

 ular end of the ovules. In removing the oviduct the moth not infrequently carries 

 her body across the stigma, so that at first sight she appears to be withdrawing it 

 directly from the mouth of the stylar canal; but I have never seen her make direct 

 use of this canal. The operation consumes more time than does the oviposition of 

 either yuccasella or maculata as I have observed them, and usually takes altogether 

 from two-and-a-half to three minutes. Sometimes two or more eggs are laid before 

 the stigma is pollinated, but commonly after laying each egg the moth retreats to 

 the bottom of the flower and then again ascends the pistil until her head is brought 

 even with the stigma, when she uncoils the large tentacles from their resting place 

 against her load of pollen and passes them back and forth in the stigmatic chamber, 

 with almost the same moti<m as the eastern species, usually making use of one of the 

 stigmatic notches. While so employed she carries the rather short tongue almost 

 straight out above the stigma, but I have never seen her make any use of it to force 

 the pollen into the latter, nor has she been observed to attempt to feed on the slight 

 stigmatic secretion nor to search for food at the base of the flower, where, if any- 

 where, the nectar of the septal glands should be found. 



Prof. Trelease lias not yet published anything upon the other species 

 of Yucca insects which he has collected, and I take this occasion to pre- 

 sent some few unrecorded facts in reference to some of the species of 

 Prodoxus which he was kind enough to send me, as also some addi- 

 tional data from other sources. 



THE SPECIES OF PRODOXUS. 



Prodoxus coloradens'ts. — This was described by me from a single male 

 taken in 1884 by Mr. H. K. Morrison in Colorado. In April, 1892, Mr. 

 F. V. Coville, the present Botanist of the Department of Agriculture, 

 gave me a few small pieces of the flower stem of a Yucca, infested by a 

 Prodoxus larva. The plant was collected in the Cbarleston Mountains, 

 Lincoln county, Nevada, the previous February, and was undoubtedly 

 Yucca baccata. From these pieces of stem I reared early in the present 

 month two imagoes, which proved to be Prodoxus coloradensis. 



I have also received from Prof Trelease four other collected speci- 

 mens, rather battered and imperfect, which belong to this species, all 

 taken from the flowers of Yxcca haccata at Banning, Cal. These two 

 bred specimens are constant, and agree thoroughly well with the type, 

 except tluit there is no iiudination to pale yellowish in the white scales 

 of the head, and the thorax shows some black scales on the tegulte, a 

 line of black around the collar, and, in one of the specimens, along the 

 middle of the thorax; characters not noticeable except in well pre- 

 served specimens. The white portion of the antenna* extends also in 

 these two specimens beyond the basal third and fully to one-half the 

 length of the organ. The four collected specimens from Prof. Trelease 

 indicate considerable variation; in one specimen the outer arm of the 

 transverse Y band across the posterior portion of the wing being absent, 



