MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



had it been my property, that beyond all question took 

 its exquisite combinations of browns and tans with pink 

 lines, and peacock blue designs from Polyphemus. A 

 third could have been copied from no moth save Modesta, 

 for it was dove gray, mouse gray, and cinnamon brown, 

 with the purplish pink of the back wings, and exactly the 

 blue of their decorations. Had this rug been woven of 

 silk, as the brown one, that moment would have taught me 

 why people sometimes steal when they cannot afford to 

 buy. Examination of the stock of any importer of high 

 grade rugs will convince one who knows moths, that 

 many of our commonest or their near relatives native 

 to the Orient are really used as models for colour com- 

 binations in rug weaving. The Herat frequently has 

 moths in its border. 



The painting of this moth I laboured over with loving 

 care, and I think that to the reproduction I succeeded 

 in giving the purplish cast, but what will become of it 

 in engraving is a question. The female was used as a 

 model, every colour was tested on a blotter beside her 

 wing until it exactly matched, and then made a degree 

 stronger, for water colours dry lighter in shade, and the 

 subject was not fresh in the beginning. 



The ]VIodest moth has a wing sweep in large females 

 of from five and one half to six inches. In my territory 

 they are very rare, only a few caterpillars and one moth 

 have fallen to me. This can be accounted for by the fact 



311 



