MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



emerged in the woods. The chances are that they are 

 surer of hfe at your hands than they would have been if 

 left afield, provided you keep them cool enough that they 

 do not emerge too soon. 



If you want to photograph them, do it when the wings 

 are fully developed, but before they have flown. They 

 need not be handled; their Vvings are unbroken; their 

 down covering in place to the last scale; their colours 

 never so brilliant; their markings the plainest they ever 

 will be; their l)ig pursy bodies full of life; and they will 

 climb with perfect confidence on any stick, twig, or limb 

 held before them. Reproductions of them are even more 

 beautiful than those of birds. By all means photograph 

 them out of doors on a twig or leaf that their caterpillars 

 will eat. Moths strengthen and dry very quickly out- 

 side in the warm crisp air of May or June, so it is neces- 

 sary to have some one beside you with a spread net cover- 

 ing them, in case they want to fly before you are ready to 

 make an exposure. In painting this moth the colours 

 always should be copied from a living specimen as soon 

 as it is dry. No other moth of my acquaintance fades so 

 rapidly. 



Repeatedly I am asked which I think the most beauti- 

 ful of these big night moths. I do not know. All of 

 them are indescribably attractive. Whether a pale green 

 moth with purple markings is lovelier than a light yellow 

 moth with heliotrope decorations; or a tan and l)rown one 



]S7 



