1912.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 297 



Natural Science, December, 1892. 33 They deal chiefly with the East 

 African lizards, Mabuia striata and Hemidactylus mabuia. Several 

 presumably distasteful insects were refused by these species. They 

 refused wood lice also, which were eaten, however, by Gerrhosaurus 

 major. 



Experiments to determine the tastes of Calotes were also per- 

 formed by R. C. Punnett in Ceylon. 34 Punnett concludes that the 

 lizard tested (in confinement) by him showed no discrimination in 

 the choice of various adult Lepidoptera offered. "The presumably 

 distasteful Danais was eaten before the presumably palatable 

 Euschema or Mijcalesis, and the so-called distasteful Euplcea was 

 taken before the supposedly palatable Junonia iphita of not very 

 dissimilar coloration. Nor was any hesitation manifested towards 

 Papilio aristolochice with its postulated evil taste and marked warning 

 coloration" (p. 13). Punnett also found the larvae of the last-named 

 insect as well as an adult Danais plexippus were eaten by another 

 lizard (Lyriocephalus). "From such experiments as these one can 

 hardly fail to draw the conclusion that Calotes as well as Lyriocephalus 

 will readily eat anything in the way of butterflies that they come 

 across. Nor is this surprising, in view of the fact that such noxious 

 creatures as the large ant {CEcophylla smaragdina) and hairy cater- 

 pillars constitute a considerable proportion of the contents of their 

 stomachs. They certainly do not appear to exercise that nice 

 discrimination with regard to butterflies, which is necessary for the 

 establishment of mimicking forms on the theory of natural selection" 



(p. 13). 



Lieut. -Col. Neville Manders also performed experiments with 

 lizards 35 in Ceylon, using the following species: Calotes versicolor, 

 C. ophiomachus, C. nigrilabris, C. zeylanica, and Ceratophora stoddarti. 

 The last two species are smaller than the others and would not try 

 to eat butterflies either when caged or free. The experiments with 

 free specimens of the other three species resulted as follows: Lepi- 

 doptera classed as edible, All; Lepidoptera classed as nauseous, 

 A 17 R 3. Manders says one of the latter was at first refused because 

 of large size, then partly eaten, and the other two were too dry. 



He further states "that so long as the butterflies remained per- 

 fectly still, they were entirely unnoticed by the lizards, though they 

 might be in close proximity to them" (p. 708). This indicates that 



/, No. 10, pp. 746, 747. 

 "Spolia zeylanica, VII, Pt. XXV, September, 1910, pp. 12, 13.' 

 35 Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1911, pp. 707-710. 

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