MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



ecstasy of every other bird of the orchard. That moth's 

 wings were so exactly the warm though delicate yellow of 

 the flowers I loved, that as I looked at it I could feel my 

 bare feet sinking in the damp ooze, smell the fragrance of 

 the buttercups, and hear again the ripple of the water and 

 the mating exultation of the brown thrush. 



In the name — Eacles Imperialis — there is no mean- 

 ing or appropriateness to "Eacles"; "Imperiahs" — of 

 course, translates imperial — which seems most fitting, 

 for the moth is close the size of Cecropia, and of truly 

 royal beauty. We called it the Yellow Emperor. Her 

 Imperial Golden Majesty had a wing sweep of six and 

 a quarter inches. From the shoulders spreading in an 

 irregular patch over front and back wings, most on the 

 front, were markings of heliotrope, quite dark in colour. 

 Near the costa of the front wings were two almost cir- 

 cular dots of slightly paler heUotrope, the one nearest the 

 edge about half the size of the other. On the back wings, 

 halfway from each edge, and half an inch from the mark- 

 ing at the base, was one round spot of the same colour. 

 Beginning at the apex of the front pair, and running to 

 half an inch from the lower edge, was a band of escalloped 

 hehotrope. On the back pair this band began half an 

 inch from the edge and ran straight across, so that at the 

 outer curve of the wing it was an inch higher. The front 

 wing surface and the space above this marking on the 

 back were liberally sprinkled with little oblong touches 



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