208 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 
like form, and sunshine finds them scentless bells 
once more, dangling in the lassitude consequent 
upon a night of alert, and probably futile, wake- 
fulness. 
For this yucca is brought to our gardens from 
the South, and is accustomed to have its pollen 
fetched and carried by subtropical night-rovers. 
Few native nocturnal moths are able to sip 
its sweets or transfer its pollen; and if, dur- 
ing its brief term of beauty, a spell of cold rain 
discourages insect-rovers, the whole creamy spire 
of flowers may bloom and fade without setting a 
single seed. 
But in fine, warm summer evenings they are 
sometimes visited by the small moth which fertil- 
izes the wild yuccas of the Georgia coast. 
The mode of procedure of this little wanderer 
is peculiar. She is a mother moth, seeking shelter 
and maintenance for a young family, and she has 
no aim except the welfare of her future offspring. 
But in attending to her own affairs, she, inci- 
dentally, takes charge of the yucca’s affairs also. 
The coming family are to be housed in the seed- 
vessel of the plant, and nourished on its young 
seeds. 
But the yucca’s pistil and stamens are so situ- 
