RESEMBLANCES AMONG- ANIMALS. 89 



to be rejected by young turkeys among hundreds of 

 other moths on which they greedily fed. Each bird in 

 succession took hold of this moth and threw it down 

 again, as if too nasty to eat. Mr. Jenner Weir also 

 found that this moth was refused by the Bullfinch, 

 Chaffinch, Yellow Hammer, and Red Bunting, but 

 eaten after much hesitation by the Robin. We may 

 therefore fairly conclude that this species would be dis- 

 agreeable to many other birds, and would thus have an 

 immunity from attack, which may be the cause of its 

 great abundance and of its conspicuous white colour. 

 Now it is a curious thing that there is another moth, 

 Diaphora mendica, which appears about the same time, 

 and whose female only is white. It is about the same 

 size as Spilosoma menthastri, and sufficiently resembles 

 it in the dusk, and this moth is much less common. It 

 seems very probable, therefore, that these species stand 

 in the same relation to each other as the mimicking 

 butterflies of various families do to the Heliconida3 and 

 Danaidse. It would be very interesting to experiment 

 on all white moths, to ascertain if those which are 

 most common are generally rejected by birds. It may 

 be anticipated that they would be so, because white 

 is the most conspicuous of all colours for nocturnal in- 

 sects, and had they not some other protection would 

 certainly be very injurious to them. 



Lepidoptera mimicking oilier Insects. 

 In the preceding cases we have found Lepidoptera 

 imitating other species of the same order, and such 



