MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



The location was so warm, and the moth dried so 

 rapidly, that by the time two good studies were made of 

 him in this position, he felt able to step to some leaves, 

 and with no warning whatever, reversed his wings to the 

 "fly" position, so that only the top side of the front pair 

 showed. The colour was very rich and beautiful, but 

 so broken in small patches and lines, as to be difficult to 

 describe. With the reversal of the wings the antennae 

 flared a little higher, and the exercise of the sucking tube 

 began. The moth would expose the whole length of 

 the tube in a coil, which it would make larger and con- 

 tract by turns, at times drawing it from sight. When it 

 was uncoiled the farthest, a cleft in the face where it 

 fitted could be seen. I tried to take a snapshot showing 

 this tongue exercise, but the dark leaves made such a 

 poor background that the picture is not much of a success. 



The next day my second Carolina case produced a 

 beautiful female. The history of her emergence was 

 exactly similar to that of the male. Her head, shoul- 

 ders, and abdomen seemed nearly twice the size of his, 

 while her wings but a trifle, if any larger. 



As these moths are feeders, and live for weeks, I pre- 

 sume when the female has deposited her eggs, the abdo- 

 men contracts, and loses its weight so that she does not 

 require the large wings of the females that only deposit 

 their eggs and die. They are very heavy, and if forced 

 to flight must have big wings to support them. I was 



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