"
When she failed to secure the moth she wanted in a living and
perfect specimen for her studies, the author set out to raise
one, making photographic studies from the eggs through the entire
life process. There was one June during which she scarcely slept
for more than a few hours of daytime the entire month. She turned
her bedroom into a hatchery, where were stored the most precious
cocoons; and if she lay down at night it was with those she
thought would produce moths before morning on her pillow, where
she could not fail to hear them emerging. At the first sound she
would be up with notebook in hand, and by dawn, busy with
cameras. Then she would be forced to hurry to the darkroom and
develop her plates in order to be sure that she had a perfect
likeness, before releasing the specimen, for she did release all
she produced except one pair of each kind, never having sold a
moth, personally. Often where the markings were wonderful and
complicated, as soon as the wings were fully developed Mrs.
Porter copied the living specimen in water colours for her
illustrations, frequently making several copies in order to be
sure that she laid on the colour enough BRIGHTER than her subject
so that when it died it would be exactly the same shade.
"Never in all my life," writes the author, "have I had such
exquisite joy in work as I had in painting the illustrations for
this volume of `Moths of the Limberlost.
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