108 THE ENEMIES OF BUTTERFLIES [ch. 



He found that the lizards ate the so-called distasteful 

 forms such as Danais chrysippus, Euploea core, Acraea 

 violae, and Papilio hector, as readily as the presumably 

 more palatable forms^. In captivity, too, they will 

 take any butterfly as readily as another. Experiments 

 by Finn^ and by the writer^ proved that they ate 

 Danaids, Euploeas, and Papilio aristolochiae without 

 any hesitation so long as the insects were alive and 

 moving. When, too, a mixture of different species, 

 some with and some without warning coloration, was 

 given to them all were eaten, nor was there any dis- 

 crimination evidenced in the order in which they were 

 taken. The lizard simply took the first that came 

 within reach and went on until the whole lot was 

 devoured, wings and all. 



Some experiments by Miss Pritchett on the American 

 lizard Sceleporus floridanus point to the same con- 

 clusion*. She found that it took without hesitation 

 any butterfly offered to it including the presumably 

 distasteful models Danais archippus and Papilio pliil- 

 enor (cf. pp. 45 and 49). On the other hand, another 

 species of lizard with which Miss Pritchett experimented, 

 Gerrhonotus infernalis, refused all the butterflies offered 

 to it, though it fed freely on Orthopterous insects as 

 well as on spiders and scorpions. 



It seems clear from these various observations and 



1 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1911. 



2 Journ. Roy. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. 65, 1897. 

 ^ Spolia Zeylanica, 1910. 



■* Biological Bulletin, vol, 5, 1903. 



