MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



terflies, and then did the best He could with what 

 remained, on the birds and flowers. 



In my home there was a cellar window on the south, 

 covered with wire screening, that was my individual 

 property. Father placed a box beneath it so that I 

 could reach the sill easily, and there were very few 

 butterflies or insects common to eastern North America 

 a specimen of which had not spent some days on that 

 screen, feasted on leaves and flowers, drunk from saucers 

 of sweetened water, been admired and studied in minutest 

 detail, and then set free to enjoy life as before. With 

 Whitman, "I never was possessed with a mania for 

 killing things." I had no idea of what families they 

 were, and I supplied my own names. The Monarch was 

 the Brown Velvet; the Viceroy was his Cousin; the 

 Argynnis was the Silver Spotted; and the Papilio Ajax 

 was the Ribbon butterfly, in my category. There was 

 some thought of naming Ajax, Dolly Varden; but 

 on close inspection it seemed most to resemble the gayly 

 striped ribbons my sisters wore. 



I was far afield as to names, but in later years with 

 only a glance at any specimen I could say, "Oh, yes! I 

 always have known that. It has buff-coloured legs, 

 clubbed antennae with buff tips, wings of purplish brown 

 velvet with escalloped margins, a deep band of buff 

 lightly traced with black bordering them, and a pro- 

 nounced point close the apex of the front pair. When it 



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