MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



An hour later he came back and said he wanted the 

 picture. On being questioned as to his change of 

 heart, he said "mamma told him to say he wanted the 

 picture, and she would give him the money." My 

 sympathy w as with her. I wanted the studies I intended 

 to make of that Cecropia myself, and I wanted them very 

 badly. 



I opened the box to examine the moth, and found it 

 so numb with the cold over night, and so worn and 

 helpless, that it could not cling to a leaf or twig. I tried 

 repeatedly, and fearing that it had been subjected to 

 rough treatment, and soon would be lifeless, for these 

 moths live only a short time, I hastily set up a camera 

 focusing on a branch. Then I tried posing my specimen. 

 Until the third time it fell, but the fourth it clung, and 

 crept down a twig, settling at last in a position that 

 far surpassed any posing that I could do. I was very 

 pleased, and yet it made a complication. It had gone so 

 far that it might be off the plate and from focus. It 

 seemed so stupid and helpless that I decided to risk n 

 peep at the glass, and hastily removing the plate and 

 changing the shutter, a slight but most essential alter- 

 ation was made, everything replaced, and the bulb caught 

 up. There was only a breath of sound as I turned, and 

 then I stood horrified, for mj^ Cecropia was sailing over 

 a large elm tree in a corner of the orchard, and for a 

 block my gaze followed it skyward, flying like a bird 



104 



