411 



have been noticed in this country, but this may be from insufficient 

 search after them. One instance of probable mimicry is mentioned 

 by Mr. Wallace, that of " a very common white moth (Spilosoma 

 menthrastij which was found by Mr. Stainton to be rejected by young 

 turkeys among hundreds of other moths on which they greedily 

 fed. Each bird in succession took hold of this moth and threw 

 it down again, as if too nasty to eat." Its odour or taste evidently 

 serves to protect it from its enemies. Now there is another 

 white moth (Diaplwra mendica) appearing about the same time as 

 the Spilosoma menthrasti, of about the same size, and sufficiently 

 resembling it in the dusk, whose female only is white, * and this 

 moth is much less common. And he thinks it not improbable that 

 these two species may stand to each other in the relation of 

 mimicked and raimicker. He even goes so far as to anticipate that 

 all white moths, if at the same time very common, will be found to 

 be generally rejected by birds, " because white is the most con- 

 spicuous of all colours, and had they not some other protection 

 would certainly be very injurious to them." t This is a matter 

 of trial and experiment for the Local Entomologist and is suggestive 

 of other experiments. It leads to the general inquiry what are the 

 species of moths and butterflies eaten with avidity by birds, and 

 what species are rejected, also whether the same rule holds with 

 the caterpillars that holds with the perfect insects, and what is the 

 degree of frequency or infrequency of occurrence in the case of 

 each particular species, or the circumstances of locality, Ac, by 

 which it is conditioned. This enquiry has been already taken up 

 by a few Entomologists, but it needs to be continued by other 

 observers, and in reference to a larger number of species of birds 

 and insects than have hitherto been experimented upon. % 



The above remarks relate to Lepidopterous insects exclusively, 



• p. 89. 



t See Wallace's remarks on " Mimicry by Female Insects only," p. 110. 



X See two important papers on this subject, one by Mr. Jenner Weir " On 

 Insects and Insectivorous Birds ; and especially on the Relation between the 

 Colour and the Edibility of Lepidoptera and their Larvae" : the other by Mr. 

 A. G. Butler, containing " Remarks upon certain Caterpillars, &c., wliich are 

 unpalatable to their enemies." Ent. Trans., 1869, pp. 21 and 27 ; also another 

 paper by Mr. Jennor Weir, on the same subject. Ent. Trans., 1870, p. 337. 



