MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



An hour later he came back and said he wanted the 

 picture. On being questioned as to his change of 

 heart, he said "mamnr^told him to say he wanted the 

 picture, and she would give him the money." My 

 sympathy was with her. I wanted the studies I intended 

 to make of that Cecropia myself, and I wanted them very 

 badly. 



I opened the box to examine th^moth, and found it 

 so numb with the cold over night, and so worn and 

 helpless, that it could not cling to a leaf or twig. I tried 

 repeatedly, and fearing that it had been subjected to 

 rough treatment, and soon would be lifeless, for these 

 moths live only a short time, I hastily set up a camera 

 focusing on a branch. Then I tried posing my specimen. 

 Until the third time it fell, but the fourth it clung, and 

 crept down a twig, settling at last in a position that 

 far surpassed any posing that I could do. I was very 

 pleased, and yet it made a complication. It had gone so 

 far that it might be off the plate and from focus. It 

 seemed so stupid and helpless that I decided to risk a 

 peep at the glass, and hastily removing the plate and 

 changing the shutter, a slight but most essential alter- 

 ation was made, everything replaced, and the bulb caught 

 up. There was only a breath of sound as I turned, and 

 then I stood horrified, for my Cecropia was sailing over 

 a large elm tree in a corner of the orchard, and for a 

 block my gaze followed it skyward, flying like a bird 



104 



