298 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [June^ 



color is not the stimulus to capture, but that motion is. Manders 

 concludes: "It would seem that those who assume that reptiles 

 take no part in the production of Batesian or Mullerian mimicry 

 are correct, though further experiments are required" (p. 710). 



Experiments in Europe. 



A series of experiments by H. Eltringham with Lacerta viridis™- 

 have as their main point the demonstration that a certain lepidop- 

 terous larva (Boarmia rhomboidaria) , was more distasteful to the 

 captive lizards when it had fed on ivy than when fed on apple. In 

 addition, a number of other insects and other invertebrates were 

 used in the experiments. No general conclusions are given. Possible 

 comparisons with Poulton's tables of experiments (1887) are as 

 follows : 



Poulton's tables, 



1887. Eltringham. Animal tested. 



Pieris brassicce, larva R. A 4 D. Lacerta viridis. 



Apis mellifera A many. R. 



Later, Eltringham says that the -caterpillars referred to in his 

 previous experiments are not Boarmia rhomboidaria, but Odontoptera 

 bidentata. The adult moths were eaten by lizards, to which they 

 were fed by Messrs. Eltringham and Pocock. The latter found that 

 they were acceptable also to a bird, Graculifera melanoptera. Eltring- 

 ham concludes that the distastefulness of the larvse was not intrinsic, 

 but due to the character of the food in their digestive tracts. 37 



Plateau states 38 that seven Cistudo europaa ignored the caterpillar 

 of Abraxas grossulariata, while one tried and rejected it. Coluber 

 eesculapii and Lacerta muralis disregarded the larvae and rejected 

 them when placed in their mouths. 



Experiments in America. 



Few experimental tests of the efficiency of the protective adapta- 

 tions of insects have been made in the United States. The most 

 important series hitherto published in full was performed by Annie 

 H. Pritchett and was reported in the Biological Bulletin (Vol. 5, 

 pp. 271-287, 1903). The animals used were Sceloporus floridanus, 

 Gerrhonotus infernalis, Crotaphijtus collaris, Cnemidophorus sexli- 



36 Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1909, pp. 471-478. 



37 "Edibility of Lepidopterous Larvse," Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1910, pp. xxxi,xxxii.. 



38 Mem. de la Soc. Zool. de France, VII, 1894, p. 383. 



