GOLD-TAIL MOTHS. 267 



still held fast; often glows the richer even for the blasts of 

 winter ? That diadem, once accustomed to lord it over the 

 seasons, has been stripped from thy brow by a vile caterpillar 

 crew. But where are the destroyers ? After having battened 

 in this sort upon crowned heads, and fattened upon regal 

 spoils, our marauding troops should, each by this time, have 

 grown Napoleon-like in figure as in deed. And so, in then- 

 day, they did, their black and scarlet uniforms having for 

 many a time been renewed in order to accommodate their 

 growing greatness : but now their day is over. These ruthless 

 ravagers are nowhere to be seen. But what have we here, 

 resting on the shady side of an oak's spoliated trunk ? A little 

 creature of surpassing elegance and beauty; her body seems 

 clothed in a garment of softest swan's down, trimmed at the 

 bottom by a flounce of golden fur ; her ample wings of the 

 same unsullied hue, but of more satiny appearance, are bor- 

 dered by a corresponding fringe ; and even her delicate feet 

 are furred or feathered with white nearly to her toes. Her 

 full black eyes, though lacking lustre, do not lack beauty ; and 

 rising from her head, in graceful curves, a pair of snow-white 

 plumes, complete her simple, but most elegant attire. We 

 might almost fancy, as we look at this most delicate of creatures, 

 that we had surprised by day-light one of the fairy elves, fabled 

 to hold their moon-light revels beneath the oak. And truly she 

 is not more beautiful than innocent : a drop of honey-dew is 

 the coarsest nutriment her frame requires, if even air suffice 



