IX 
WARNING COLORATION AND MIMICRY 
237 
pillars — Abraxas grossulariata, Diloba caeruleocephala, An- 
throcera filipendula, and Cucullia verbasci. He also found that 
they would not touch any hairy or spiny larvae, and he was 
satisfied that it was not the hairs or the spines, but the un¬ 
pleasant taste that caused them to be rejected, because in one 
case a young smooth larva of a hairy species, and in another 
case the pupa of a spiny larva, were equally rejected. On 
the other hand, all green or brown caterpillars as well as 
those that resemble twigs were greedily devoured. 1 
Mr. A. G. Butler also made experiments with some green 
lizards (Lacerta viridis), which greedily ate all kinds of food, 
including flies of many kinds, spiders, bees, butterflies, and 
green caterpillars ; but they would not touch the caterpillar of 
the gooseberry-moth (Abraxas grossulariata), or the imago of 
the burnet-moth (Anthrocera filipendula). The same thing 
happened with frogs. When the gooseberry caterpillars 
were first given to them, “ they sprang forward and licked 
them eagerly into their mouths; no sooner, however, had 
they done so, than they seemed to become aware of the 
mistake that they had made, and sat with gaping mouths, 
rolling their tongues about, until they had got quit of the 
nauseous morsels, which seemed perfectly uninjured, and 
walked oft' as briskly as ever.” Spiders seemed equally to 
dislike them. This and another conspicuous caterpillar 
(Halia wavaria) were rejected by two species — the geometrical 
garden spider (Epeira diadema) and a hunting spider. 2 
Some further experiments with lizards were made by 
Professor Weismann, quite confirming the previous observa¬ 
tions ; and in 1886 Mr. E. B. Poulton of Oxford undertook 
a considerable series of experiments, with many other species of 
larvae and fresh kinds of lizards and frogs. Mr. Poulton then 
reviewed the whole subject, incorporating all recorded facts, as 
well as some additional observations made by Mr. Jenner Weir 
in 1886. More than a hundred species of larvae or of perfect 
insects of various orders have now been made the subject of 
experiment, and the results completely confirm my original 
suggestion. In almost every case the protectively coloured 
larvae have been greedily eaten by all kinds of insectivorous 
1 Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, 1869, p. 21. 
2 Ibid., p. 27. 
