MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



the warm sunny weather of that December and the fore 

 part of January he was esiDecially tuneful, to our dehght 

 and the great amusement of many friends. In writing 

 from college, Molly-Cotton always inquired concerning 

 his welfare. He was all right until March, then his song 

 ceased and the following summer the gray spots close the 

 veranda roof were Sweethearts and Brides, for the tree 

 toad never came again. 



One would suppose that with so many specimens of 

 this beautifid species living with us and swarming the 

 swamp close by, I would be prepared to give their com- 

 plete life history; but I know less concerning them than 

 any other moths common with us, and all the scientific 

 works I can buy afford little help. Professional lepidop- 

 terists dismiss them with few words. One would-be 

 authority disposes of the species with half a dozen lines. 

 You can find at least a hundred Catocala reproduced from 

 museum specimens and their habitat given, in the Hol- 

 land "]\Ioth Book," but I fail to learn what I most desire 

 to know: what these moths feed on; how late they live; 

 how their eggs appear; where they are deposited; which 

 is their caterpillar; what does it eat; and where and how 

 does it pupate. 



Packard, in his "Guide to the Study of Insects," offers 

 in substance this much help upon the subject: "The 

 genus is beautiful, the species numerous, of large size, 

 often three-inch expansion, and in repose form a flat 



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