286 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Julie 



British birds further suggests the unreliability of disregard as a 

 guide to natural tastes. 



In consequence of the too great fondness of some experimenters 

 for psychological deductions, the writer, in judging experiments, has 

 separated "disregards" for the reasons above stated, and has taken 

 cognizance only of rejections that resulted from actual trial. But a 

 rejection has been credited for each time the experimenter says the 

 object was refused, even if it was eaten later. This is certainly as 

 great a concession in favor of the experiments as can be expected 

 from one who believes not at all in their utility. Tabulations have 

 been made anew (whenever possible) from the detailed accounts of 

 the experiments. It cannot be hoped that these are free from error, 

 but it may properly be assumed that they are approximately correct. 



The earlier experiments especially are characterized by the average 

 small number of tests of the various insects. For this reason, single 

 or a very few acceptances or refusals have been held to prove the 

 palatability or otherwise of a certain form. Thus in the eyes of 

 those who had faith in experiments, results piled up in a really 

 beautiful way. It is not out of order, however, to point out in 

 advance that there are many inconsistencies between the various 

 sets of experiments and that these show that conclusions based 

 upon a few trials are extremely liable to be overturned. 



An interesting case showing the danger of basing conclusions upon 

 a single rejection is given by Jenner Weir (Trans. Ent. Soc. London, 

 1869, p. 22): "The imago of Spilosoma menthastri .... was tasted 

 by the reed bunting, but not relished, and soon dropped; the .... 

 bird, however, attracted by the fluttering insect, returned to it, and 

 ultimately swallowed it." If the insect had been taken out, the 

 single rejection would, of course, have stood as the reed bunting's 

 record. A case illustrating the possibilities of single acceptances or 

 rejections is R. I. Pocock's experiment on "the distastefulness of 

 Anosia plexippus" (Nature, 87, 1911, pp. 484-485). A specimen was 

 offered to eleven species of birds and refused a total of thirteen times 

 by them, before it was offered to a tinamou, which swallowed it at 

 once. Reversing the experiment thus might have given an exactly 

 opposite impression of the palatability of this insect. 



In the following pages the expressions accepted, rejected, and 

 disregarded are often abbreviated to A, R, and D, respectively. In 

 general, the experiments are reviewed in groups determined by the 

 classes of animals tested. 



