314 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Jline r 



on pp. 864-868, and show his customary facility in drawing conclu- 

 sions satisfactory to himself from the most refractory evidence. 

 For instance, he says: "The experiments on the Pierince support 

 the conclusion that the perfection of the under surface procryptic 

 resemblance affords a true criterion of the degree of palatability. 

 Pieris brassicce, with its conspicuous gregarious larva and imago 

 larger and less cryptically colored than the other three species .... 

 was distinctly the least palatable" (pp. 864, 865). The records of 

 acceptances and rejections of the three species of Pieris are as follows: 

 Pieris rapce, A 10 R 2, a proportion of 5 to 1 ; Pieris brassicce, A 40 

 R 33, 1| to 1; and Pieris napi, A 8 R 8, 1 to 1; P. napi thus being 

 the least favored in the experiments. These figures are reproduced 

 not because the point as to relative palatability is of any importance, 

 especially as an indication of natural preferences, but merely to show 

 that the experimental results are not accurately judged by those 

 most interested in them. It is of interest to compare Pocock's 

 results with Pieris brassicce with those obtained by Dr. G. Rorig in 

 Germany. Pocock records the pupae of this insect as A 1 R 8 D 3, 

 and the adult as A 16 R 7 D 1, while Dr. Rorig says: 59 The pups? 

 of the Kohlweisling "were eagerly torn open by all the titmice, " and 

 the adults "were always freely eaten by all the birds which I have 

 tested." 



Poulton bases considerable speculation upon the unpalatability 

 of Araschnia levana, the record for which in the experiments is A 20 

 R 10. He follows this with a page of theorizing on the probable 

 mimicry of Melitcea by Hesperia, and says that the experimental 

 "results as a whole leave little doubt that Melitcea is distasteful to 

 many birds, and that it does actually possess the qualtities which 

 would render it an advantageous model for the Hesperiidse" (p. 867). 

 As a matter of fact, the experiments with birds and Melitcea de- 

 scribed on pp. 826 and 827 show that it was finally refused by only 

 one bird; it was eaten by thirteen species, seven species of which 

 took nine specimens without hesitation. Two birds which dropped 

 the first specimen offered them later took one and two, respectively, 

 including those dropped. The final record for birds is A 18 R 1. 

 If this is considered proof that Melitcea is advantageous as a model, 

 the demands of the theory are most modest. 



On p. 867 he also refers to Melanargia as a highly distasteful genus ; 

 its record in the experiments is A 14 R 4. Another extract from 



Arb. Biol. Abt. f. Land. Forstwirts. K. Gesundheitsamte, 4, 1903, p. 47. 



