Then I went back
to the veranda and revelled with the moths until dawn drove them
to shelter. One magnificent specimen, birdlike above all the others,
I followed across the orchard and yard to a grape arbour, where I
picked him from the under side of a leaf after he had settled for
the coming day. Repeatedly I counted close to a hundred, and then
they would so confuse me by flight I could not be sure I was not
numbering the same one twice. With eight males, some of them fine
large moths, one superb, from which to choose, my female mated with
an insistent, frowsy little scrub lacking two feet and having torn
and ragged wings. I needed no surer proof that she had very dim
vision.
CHAPTER IV The Yellow Emperor: Eacles Imperialis
Several years ago, Mr. A. Eisen, a German, of Coldwater, Michigan,
who devotes his leisure to collecting moths, gave me as pinned
specimens a pair of Eacles Imperialis, and their full life history.
Any intimate friend of mine can testify that yellow is my favourite
colour, with shades of lavender running into purple, second choice.
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