Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 43.djvu/821

 always the little moths of the genus Pronuba—never any other insect whatsoever. Several different species of Pronuba frequent respectively several different species or groups of species of yuccas, but the most familiar one is the Pronuba yuccasella, always found on our Yucca filamentosa, the most Northeastern type. Just about



nightfall, as the flowers open, the moths are seen flitting about the yucca panicles. Usually the male is most constantly on the wing, while the female is found running about within the flowers. She begins operations by mounting the top of a stamen, exactly as shown in Fig. 11. There she scrapes with her two odd hooklike maxillary palpi the pollen out of the anther, and rolls It into a globular mass under her head. With this load, often thrice the size of her head, she goes to another flower, runs about, apparently examines every nook and corner of it, and then, if perchance satisfied, finally settles astride two of the stamens with her