THE MOTH. 
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sprinkled with purple dust. And a third is called 
rosalia, because the wings are of a deep rose-red. 
They are fringed and streaked with yellow, and 
change their hue according to the light you see 
them in. 
And there is an elegant moth, with a very 
small body, that seems almost lost between its 
large cream-coloured wings, which end in a tail, 
a little like the swallow-tail butterfly. 
And there are the leopard and ermine moths, 
with white wings spotted with blue and black, 
that give them a very dazzling appearance. 
The female moths are not so gaily colored as 
their partners. And it is very curious, that their 
partners have sometimes odd wings; one being 
gay with clouds and spots, and the other quite 
plain, and having no color at all, like that of 
the female. At first sight, you might think 
some one had been playing a prank, and giving 
to the moth a wing that did not belong to him. 
But such is not the case, and Nature alone is 
answerable for this phenomenon. 
The largest moth of all, is called the owl moth,* 
and is quite a giant, compared to any we see in 
England. All day, he lies motionless on the 
forked branch, or cleft of a tree ; and is so much 
* Erebus. 
