If they are kept cool enough that they do not emerge
until May or June, then you have one of the most exquisite
treats nature has in store for you, in watching the
damp spot spread on the top of the cocoon where an
acid is ejected that cuts and softens the tough fibre,
and allows the moth to come pushing through in the
full glory of its gorgeous birth. Nowhere in
nature can you find such delicate and daintily shaded
markings or colours so brilliant and fresh as on the
wings of these creatures of night.
After you have learned the markings and colours, and
secured pictures if you desire, and they begin to
exhibit a restlessness, as soon as it is dusk, release
them. They are as well prepared for all life
has for them as if they had emerged in the woods.
The chances are that they are surer of life at your
hands than they would have been if left afield, provided
you keep them cool enough that they do not emerge
too soon. If you want to photograph them, do
it when the wings are fully developed, but before
they have flown. They need not be handled; their
wings are unbroken; their down covering in place to
the last scale; their colours never so brilliant;
their markings the plainest they ever will be; their
big pursy bodies full of life; and they will climb
with perfect confidence on any stick, twig, or limb
held before them. Reproductions of them are even
more beautiful than those of birds. By all means
photograph them out of doors on a twig or leaf that
their caterpillars will eat. Moths strengthen
and dry very quickly outside in the warm crisp air
of May or June, so it is necessary to have some one
beside you with a spread net covering them, in case
they want to fly before you are ready to make an
exposure. In painting this moth the colours
always should be copied from a living specimen as soon
as it is dry. No other moth of my acquaintance
fades so rapidly.
Repeatedly I am asked which I think the most beautiful
of these big night moths. I do not know.
All of them are indescribably attractive.
Whether a pale green moth with purple markings is
lovelier than a light yellow moth with heliotrope
decorations; or a tan and brown one with pink lines,
is a difficult thing to determine. When their
descriptions are mastered, and the colour combinations
understood, I fancy each person will find the one
bearing most of his favourite colour the loveliest.
It may be that on account of its artistically cut
and coloured trailers, Luna has a touch of grace
above any.
CHAPTER VII King of the Hollyhocks: Protoparce Celeus
Protoparce Celeus was the companion of Deilephila
Lineata in the country garden where I first studied
Nature. Why I was taught that Lineata was a
bird, and Celeus a moth, it is difficult to understand,
for they appear very similar when poising before
flowers. They visit the same blooms, and vary
but little in size. The distinction that must
have made the difference was that while Lineata kept
company with the hummingbirds and fed all day, Celeus
came forth at dusk, and flew in the evening and at
night. But that did not conclusively prove
it a moth, for nighthawks and whip-poor-wills did
the same; yet unquestionably they were birds.
