154 FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT 



from ;^ but the only insect which I have found actively engaged in 

 the pollenation is our little Tineid, which may be known in popular 

 language as the Yucca Moth. 



During the day-time, we may, by knowing what and where to seek, 

 often find this moth, either singly or in pairs, resting with folded wings 

 (Fig. 75, h) within the half-closed flowers. It is then not only hidden, 

 but well protected by the imitative color of the front wings with that 

 of the flower. If we visit the plants after 



" "■ * ■*•" * the garish clay 

 Has sped on his wheels of light away," 



and when, with full-blown perianths, the Yucca stands in all her 

 queenly beauty, and sends forth her perfume more strongly upon the 

 night air, we shall, with a little patience, meet with this same moth 

 flitting swiftly from flower to flower and from plant to plant — the 

 dusky nature of the hind wings and of the under surface of the front 

 wings almost completely offsetting and neutralizing, when in motion, 

 the upper silvery whiteness of the latter, and thus still rendering the 

 insect a little difficult of detection. It is principally the male which 

 we thus see flying, and, by aid of a " bull's eye," we shall find the 

 female for the most part busily at work in the flowers. He^ with 

 stronger wing-power, can afford to pass in the most pleasurable way 

 the few brief days allotted him ; but she is charged with a double 

 duty, and loses little time in its performance. 



Before she can carry out the maternal task of continuing her race, 

 she must act as foster-mother to the plant in order to insure a proper 

 supply of food to her larvae, which feed on its seeds. With her max- 

 illary tentacle, so wonderfully modified for the purpose, she collects 

 the pollen in large pellets, and holds it under the neck and against 

 the front trochanters. In this manner she sometimes carries a mass 

 thrice the size of her head (Fig 74, (z i). Thus laden, she clings to the 

 top of the pistil, bends her head, thrusts her tongue into the stigmatic 

 nectary, and brings the pollen-mass right over its mouth. In this 

 position she works with a vigor that would indicate combined pleasure 

 and purpose — moving her head and body from side to side, and appa- 

 rently making every effort to force the pollen into the tube. Such is 

 the method by which our Yuccas are fertilized. 



*I have taken the following insects from the Howers: Co\^¥^ovTVM\—Anthonomussignatus Say, 

 whose larva I have Isnown to feed on certain Aphidau Hickory galls — Chauliognathus Pcnnsylvanicus 

 (DeGeer), and C . marginatus (Fabr.;. Both these insects have the maxillaj peculiarly modifled into 

 slender, pilose, extensile seta; or feelers, which doubtless resemble in function the tongue of moths, 

 and enable them to lap honey. I once thought these might have something to do with the pollenation 

 of the plant, and possibly they do in a small degree; but I could never And them near the stigma, and 

 their sole object seemed to be to feed upon the pollen, for which purpose their jaws are well suited. 

 They are found on a variety of pollen-bearing plants, such as Spiveea, Rubiis, Solidago, etc., while as 

 larva; they are carnivorous— the first named being one of the principal enemies of those notorious fruit 

 depredators, Conotrachclus nemqihar (Herbst; and Carpocapsa pomonella (Linn.)— Euryomia melan- 

 cholica Got. & Perch, a chafer very fond ot eating into the flowers and fruit of a variety of plants. 

 HErEHOPTRRA—Lijgusrobinicc Vhlev—Orthotylus discoidalis Uhler—Cyllocoris scutellatus Uhler— T/iC0(/- 

 nisphyllopus Uhler (=albicinctus Say) . The last is notably found on Yuccas, but the others more com- 

 monly on other plants, and they all derive nourishment by puncturing and sucking— their punctures 

 causing little rusty specks on the fruit. 



