Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 43.djvu/823

 from the cocoon for several years, though not so generally. It is strangely true, however, that moth and yucca flower mature at the selfsame season; and strangest of all, it can not be shown that the moth during its short existence in the perfect state takes a particle of nutriment from the yucca flower—no pollen, no nectar, no stigmatic fluid. This is practically certain. Here, then, is a case of "instinct" that is utterly dazzling; it bids defiance to comparative psychology, philosophy, metaphysics—everything. Here is a plant that can not perpetuate itself without one certain strangely specialized moth; and here is a moth that can not live without that plant; and that moth deliberately cross-fertilizes the flowers without receiving any nutriment from them! Verily, the botanist must rise up and say of the yucca moth what Cicero said of the aged planter of orchards, "Serit arbores quæ alteri sæclo prosint!" and even with greater truth. This is interdependence between the worlds of insect and plant life that baffles understanding.

Cacti, agaves, yuccas, such is the three-typed group that stands out as a great division of a flora distinctively American; unique in the phase of plant development it presents; peculiar to a region of strange physical aspect; sprung directly, for aught that is known otherwise, from the mystery-shrouded soil of the Aztec and the cliff-dweller. And this is the splendid tribute the land of the far Southwest gives to the world of science.



HE visitor who wishes to learn what the World's Columbian Exposition has to teach in regard to the domestic arts will not find the exhibits in this field gathered in a separate building, as are those relating to Transportation or Agriculture. He will not find them entered as one class in the Official Catalogue, but must search them out in nooks and corners, and will often stumble upon them in the most unlikely places.

To begin with the house itself: two specimen dwellings of low cost are exhibited. Away down near the southeastern corner of the grounds is a neat wooden cottage, forming part of the New York exhibit, and known as the Workingman's Model Home. The house, with cellar, would cost ordinarily $1,000; it measures 20 X 28 feet, and is designed to stand on a lot of 25 X 40 feet. On the first floor are a hallway, living room, kitchen, bath room, and storeroom; on the second floor are three bedrooms, each with a closet, and a large closet at the front end of the upper hall. The 