The wet wings dropped into position, and the sun dried them
rapidly. I fell in love with my subject. He stepped around so
jauntily in comparison with most moths. The picture he made while
clinging to the roses during the first exposure was lovely.
His slender, trim legs seemed to have three long joints, and two
short in the feet. In his sidewise position toward the lens, the
abdomen showed silver-white beneath, silvery grey on the sides,
and large patches of orange surrounded by black, with touches of
white on top. His wings were folded together on his back as they
drooped, showing only the under sides, and on these the markings
were more clearly defined than on top. In the sunlight the fore
pair were a warm tan grey, exquisitely lined and shaded. They
were a little more than half covered by the back pair, that folded
over them. These were a darker grey, with tan and almost black
shadings, and crossed by sharply zig-zagging lines of black. The
grey legs were banded by lines of white.
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