MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



terflies, and then did the best He could with what 

 remained, on the birds and flowers. 



In my home there was a cellar window on the south, 

 covered with wire screening, that was my individual 

 property. Father placed a box beneath it so that I 

 could reach the sill easily, and there were very few 

 butterflies or insects common to eastern North America 

 a specimen of which had not spent some days on that 

 screen, feasted on leaves and flowers, drunk from saucers 

 of sweetened w ater, been admired and studied in minutest 

 detail, and then set free to enjoy life as before. With 

 Whitman, "I never was possessed with a mania for 

 killing things. " I had no idea of what families they 

 were, and I supplied my own names. The Monarch was 

 the Brown Velvet; the Viceroy was his Cousin; the 

 Argynnis was the Silver Spotted; and the Papilio Ajax 

 was the Ribbon butterfly, in my category. There was 

 some thought of naming Ajax, Dolly Varden; but 

 on close inspection it seemed most to resemble the gayly 

 striped ribbons my sisters w^ore. 



I was far afield as to names, but in later years with 

 only a glance at any specimen I could say, "Oh, yes! I 

 always have known that. It has buff-coloured legs, 

 clubbed antennae with buff tips, wings of purplish brown 

 velvet with escalloped margins, a deep band of buff 

 lightly traced with black bordering them, and a pro- 

 nounced point close the apex of the front pair. When it 



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