Often it takes long and patient
coaxing, and they are sensitive to touch. If I try to force a
fore-wing with my fingers to secure a wider sweep, so that the
markings of the back wings show, the moths resent it by closing
them closer than before, climbing to a different location or often
taking flight.
But if I use a fine camel's-hair brush, that lacks the pulsation
of circulation, and gently stroke the wing, and sides of the
abdomen, the moths seems to like the sensation and grow sleepy or
hypnotized. By using the brush I never fail to get wing extension
that will show markings, and at the same time the feet and body
are in a natural position. After all is said there is to say,
and done there is to do, the final summing up and judgment of any
work on Natural History will depend upon whether it is true to
nature. It is for this reason I often have waited for days and
searched over untold miles to find the right location, even the
exact leaf, twig or branch on which a subject should be placed.
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