Nov., '02] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 279 



insects that are supposed to he distastful to liirds and even other 

 insects, and information on these points is always in order, but 

 we must be sure that, what we suppose to be normal, is not 

 really exceptional. 



Our milkweed butterfly, .l/io^nt p/c.vipfitts L., which breeds 

 in the north during summer and in the fall migrates to the far 

 south, is supposed to be distastful to birds, but on an island in 

 Aransas Bay, on the gulf coast of Texas, it is eaten by a mouse 

 of the genus ()>I_YC/IO/HYS. So, while the butterfly may be dis- 

 tastful to birds, it is not necessarily so to rodents. Xow, 

 another bit of information has been secured which is not only 

 valuable, but it illustrates the fact that one truth gained in one 

 part of the world frequently goes to strengthen another, secured 

 in another part of the world. Mr. J. G. O. Tepper, curator of 

 the South-Australian Museum, at Adelaide, contributes a note 

 to a recent number of " Garden and Field/' which illustrates 

 this point exactly. 



Mr. Tepper is in the habit of taking his noonday lunch in a 

 quiet room several flights of stairs above the ground, and some 

 two years ago cultivated the acquaintance of a solitary mouse 

 which he fed with crumbs and scraps left from his lunch, until 

 mouse became quite tame. Finally, some damaged and useless 

 insects were left loosely on the window-sill frequented by the 

 mouse, and these were afterwards found reduced to a few frag- 

 ments. Suspecting "mousie" of having done this, he replaced 

 them with others and found that his suspicions were well- 

 founded, and the dead and dried insects were consumed with 

 evident satisfaction, without exception. Then, other insects 

 both dead and living were submitted and also eaten. Tln-^ 

 last consisted of both fresh and dried blowflies, beetles, cater- 

 pillars, cockroaches, etc., and were "preferentially" consumed. 

 Mr. Tepper further states that their common "cockchafer," 

 . \noplognathus <>i/cn'n/itfi, had been refused by a pet Laughing 

 Jackass \ Praln-mi .;'<;' "-S !' M- W- I, but the mouse had no 

 such squeamish tastes and ate all that were offered it. -Ileie, 

 again, we have the phenomenon of a native bird refusing an 

 insect that is readily devoured by a mouse. The only pity i> 

 that Mr. Tepper did not experiment with other mire and, if 



