MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



effect, but on close examination one found tlie purplish 

 tinge a commingling of every delicate tint of lavender and 

 heliotrope imaginable. They were crossed by escalloped 

 bands of grayish white, and flecked with touches of the 

 same, seeming as if they had been placed with a brush. 

 The back wings were a strong yellow. Each had, for 

 its size, an immense black eye-spot, with a blue pupil 

 covering three fourths of it, crossed by a perfect comma 

 of white, the heads toward the front wings and the curves 

 bending outward. Each eye-spot was in a yellow field, 

 strongly circled with a sharp black line; then a quarter of 

 an inch band of yellow; next a heliotrope circle of equal 

 width ; yellow again twice as wide ; then a faint heliotrope 

 line; and last a very narrow edging of white. Both wings 

 joined the body under a covering of long, silky, purple- 

 brown hairs. 



She was very busy with egg depositing, and climbed to 

 the twig held before her without offering to fly. The 

 camera was carried to the open, set up and focused on a 

 favourable spot, while Molly-Cotton walked beside me 

 holding a net over the moth in case she took flight in 

 outer air. The twig was placed where she would be in 

 the deepest shade possible while I worked rapidly with 

 the camera. 



By this time experience had taught me that these crea- 

 tures of moonlight and darkness dislike the open glare of 

 day, and if placed in sunlight will take flight in search of 



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