GOLD-TAIL MOTHS. 267 



still held fast, often glows the richer even for the blasts of 

 winter? That diadem, once accustomed to lord it over the 

 seasons, has been stripped from thy brow by a vile caterpillar 

 crew. . But where are the destroyers ? After having battened 

 in this sort upon crowned heads, and fattened upon regal 

 spoils, our marauding troops should, each by this time, have 

 grown Napoleon-like in figure as in deed. And so, in their 

 day, they did, their black and scarlet uniforms have for many 

 a time been renewed in order to accommodate their growing 

 greatness : but now their day is over. These ruthless ravagers 

 are nowhere to be seen. But what have we here, resting on 

 the shady side of an oak's spoliated trunk ? A little creature 

 of surpassing elegance and beauty ; her body seems clothed in 

 a garment of softest swan's down, trimmed at the bottom by 

 a flounce oi] golden fur ; her ample wings of the same unsul- 

 lied hue, but of more satiny appearance, are bordered by a 

 corresponding fringe ; and even her delicate feet are furred or 

 feathered with white nearly to her toes. Her full black eyes, 

 though lacking lustre, do not lack beauty ; and rising from 

 her head, in graceful curves, a pair of snow-white plumes, 

 complete her simple, but most elegant attire. We might 

 almost fancy, as we look at this most delicate of creatures, that 

 we had surprised by day -light one of the fairy elves, fabled to 

 hold their moon-light revels beneath the oak. And truly she 

 is not more beautiful than innocent : a drop of honey-dew is 

 the coarsest nutriment her frame requires, if even air suffice 



