il u 



it 



iC 



u 



316 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [June, 



mammals, birds, and reptiles appear to vary as to the edibility of 



this or that insect But these experiments do show that 



very generally, though not always, a disagreeable taste is associated 

 with a conspicuous and varied coloration. On the other hand, 

 precisely the same deductions can be drawn by watching the behavior 

 of animals when offered inconspicuously colored insects" (p. 155). 



As in previous cases, we will give the direct comparisons that can 

 be made between these and other sets of experiments. Four out of 

 seven contrasted pairs are contradictory. 



Poulton's 



Tables, Animals 



1887. Beddard. tested. 



Armadillo vulgaris A A 2 Lacerta viridis. 



Lithobius forficatus A R 



Pieris brassicce, 1 R A 5 R 2 D 1 Lizards. 



Abraxas grossulariata, 1...A 1R7D2 R1D2 



Vespa vulgaris D A 2 



Euchelia jacobce, 1 A 2R4 A1R3D1 



Pocock, 1911. Beddard. 

 Pieris brassicce, 1 A 20 R 18 A 2 D 1 Birds. 



Beddard justly remarks (p. 166): "None of these experiments 

 are thoroughly satisfactory; it is so difficult to interpret them, and 

 they are often contradictory, for a bird will eat one day what it has 

 refused before. The experiments that have been made are like most 

 other statistics — they may be made to prove anything. A careful 

 series of observations upon the contents of the stomachs of wild 

 birds would be the nearest approach to a satisfactory solution of the 

 difficulty; but there are obvious objections to this mode of inves- 

 tigation." 



Fortunately, this objectionable method has been pursued to some 

 extent in England, i.e., by Newstead, and to a slight degree the 

 work serves as a check on experiments with British birds and insects. 

 Beddard gave an earwig to a green woodpecker, which made a great 

 deal of fuss over it, but ended by swallowing it; Newstead found 

 these insects in two stomachs of green woodpeckers, one of which 

 contained 23. 60 



Merely for the sake of completeness the very brief notes upon 

 experiments by Thomas Belt 61 may be given here: 



A tame white-faced monkey always killed but did not eat Heliconii 

 (pp. 316, 317). 



60 Suppl. Journ. Bd. Agr. [Lond.], XV, 1908, p. 64. 

 91 The Naturalist in Nicaragua, 1888. 



