WARNING COLORATION. ]49 



refused to touch this caterpillar when offered to them ; occa- 

 sionally it was tasted by the tree frog, and once " chewed 

 for some time," but finally rejected, by a hungry Lacerta 

 iit><rftli*. Mr. Weir once found that a specimen was eaten 

 by Ldccrta riridis. Some experiments made by myself at 

 the Zoological Gardens partly confirm and partly contradict 

 the conclusion to which the above observations appear to 

 point viz., that the larva is regarded by birds as inedible. 



Several birds, including the Kagu, Psophia, and one or two 

 species of Curassows, pecked several times at caterpillars which 

 I gave them. Two species of Tanager and a White-eye 

 (Zoxtfrojjs), took a caterpillar in their bill and masticated it 

 for a long time ; the White-eye, I am inclined to think, ended 

 by swallowing the insect. In any case a large ground cuckoo 

 ( < 'itrpococcyx radiatus) undoubtedly did swallow a caterpillar 

 after one or two preliminary pecks. Several other birds made 

 more than one ineffectual attempt to conquer their dislike for 

 what was evidently a disagreeable morsel ; but only one bird 

 (a small finch) absolutely declined to have anything to do 

 with it. It should be mentioned, however, that this individual 

 had observed a neighbour industriously pecking at the cater- 

 pillar, but evidently disinclined to swallow it. 



I also experimented with four monkeys, which are well 

 known to be great eaters of insects. A marmoset (Midas 

 rtifimanus) ate one up quite greedily, to the very last bit ; two 

 Cebus monkeys and a Cercopithecus callitrichus sucked at the 

 caterpillar and threw away the skin after the contents had 

 been entirely extracted ; they paused every now and again to 

 sniff suspiciously at the caterpillar, but nevertheless they 

 steadily persevered in munching it. These experiments show 

 that, with a few exceptions, the caterpillar of the Magpie moth 

 is distasteful to animals. 



