QUEEN OF fljflERlCAH 



NO insect affords a better proof of high art in nature,, 

 and of the transcendent beauty of the Creator's 

 thoughts, than the Luna moth, which is as preeminent above 

 her fellows as her namesake, the fair empress of the sky, 

 above the lesser lights that dominate the night. Her elegant 

 robes of green, set off with trimmings of purple, and jewelled 

 with diamonds, added to her queenly grace and personal 

 charms, will always distinguish her from the profanum vulgus 

 of the articulata. 



And now for a short biographical sketch of this remarka- 

 ble beauty from the cradle to the grave, and beyond, after 

 she has assumed her resurrection-attire, to the day when, 

 her appointed work on earth being ended, she quietly lays 

 her body down to mingle with its native clay. 



In her childhood, or caterpillar state, her head is elliptical 

 in shape, of a light pearly color, the rest of the body being 

 a clear bluish-green. A faint yellow band stretches along 

 each side, just below the line of her breathing-organs, from 

 the first to the tenth segment, while the back, between the 

 several body-rings, is crossed by narrow transverse bars, 

 similar in coloration. Each segment, after the fashion of her 

 kith and kin, is adorned with small pearly warts, tinged with 

 purple, some five or six in number, each tipped with a few 

 simple hairs. Three brown spots, bordered above with 

 yellow, ornament the end of the tail. An interesting variety, 

 whose general color is a dull reddish-brown, is sometimes 

 met with, but the lateral and transverse stripes of yellow 

 have disappeared, and the pearl-colored warts with edges of 



