408 PACKARD— ORIGIN OF MARKINGS OF ORGANISMS. [Dec. 2, 



open at the sides, in which we used to find great quantities of 

 moth's wings. The wings were scattered over the floor, and were 

 mostly of noctuids; the only species I now recall definitely is Sco- 

 liopteryx libatrix. We always supposed that this destruction was 

 the work of bats, but now I think ot it, we had no real proof of 

 that." 



R. Newstead, in the Gardener's Chronicle, 1901, pp. 197, 217, 

 states that a fly-catcher {Muscicapa grisola L.) was seen flying after 

 butterflies, but each time when it could seize it stopped and let the 

 butterfly escape. 



Mr. A. G. Butler^ states: "■ I have collected in Kent for at least 

 thirty years, and it must be quite twenty-five years since I last saw 

 Aporia cratcBgi flying in that county, but during the whole of the 

 thirty years I have never seen any bird but a sparrow attempt to 

 catch a butterfly." 



Previously,^ however, he says: *' I have frequently seen birds 

 catch and devour the unprotected species upon the wing." 



Prof. L. Katharina^ had an opportunity to observe a striking case 

 of the chase and capture of butterflies by a bird. "■ I was with Dr. 

 Escherich in Central Asia, May 6, 1895, where I was busy in a 

 fallow field in the neighborhood of Angora catching Thais cerysii, 

 which at this time flew in such numbers that I could catch six at a 

 time in my net, when a flock of bee-eaters {Merops apiastor) began 

 to attack them. I heard the snapping of their bills and in a very 

 short time there was no trace of the slowly flying butterflies left, 

 and the birds disappeared." He had at home seen the redstart 

 (Ruticilla), which has a special predilection for butterflies, seize fly- 

 ing Pieris and carry them to their nests. " An ornithological friend 

 tells me that he has often raised caterpillars so as to feed the butter- 

 flies to his birds, and that the chaffinch {Fringilla ccelebs) are great 

 lovers of them." 



" I am convinced that the very beautiful protective coloring of 

 butterflies is of no use, the bee-eater being attracted by their flutter- 

 ing motion. I also think that the mimicry of protected species 

 by those not protected (Danaidae, Papilionidae, etc.) has as regards 

 color and markings no great value. 



1 Entomologist' s Monthly Magazine, London, XXIV, p. 40, July, 1887. 



2 Nature, III, p. 165. 



3 «' Warden die fliegenden Schmetterlinge von Vogeln verfolgt ?" Biol. Central 

 blatt, 1898, p. 680. 



