( Ixii ) 



young bix'd, and therefoi'e, as Professor Poulton remarks, it 

 is probable tliat it had never before had experience of many 

 of the species, but the facts seem at first sight to somewhat 

 discount the value of the synaposematic colouring which was 

 characteristic of all or nearly all the rejected insects. At the 

 same time, it must be allowed that in a long list of birds 

 whose stomachs were examined by Mr. Marshall, there is 

 almost a complete absence of all the aposematic groups, 

 except in the case of two or three species which were also 

 found to eat Reduviid or Pentatomid bugs, or distasteful 

 moths, thus showing that their food was distinctly abnormal : 

 this proves conclusively that, in the case of old birds at all 

 events, the synaposematic colouring is of the greatest import- 

 ance, unless we adopt the untenable hypothesis that the 

 tasting process is continued through life, and that no remains 

 are found because the distasteful insects are invariably 

 rejected. 



In my former address I mentioned ten methods in which 

 the Coleoptera are protected : on further consideration, how- 

 ever, I quite agree with Professor Poulton in thinking that 

 some of these are included under or connoted liy others, 

 and that therefore the number should be reduced to five, as 

 follows : — 



1. 'I'he assimilation of colour or form to environment, in- 

 cluding resemblance to droppings of birds and such-like 

 substances : we have no right to speak of these as more than 

 cryptic, for we can form no idea as to their being unpleasant 

 or otherwise to insectivorous animals or birds. 



2. The possession of a very hard integument : it must be 

 noted in this connection that the beetles with a very hai-d 

 integument are usually cryptic, especially the genera of South 

 African Curculionida? {Brachycerus, etc.), which I have before 

 refei'red to : moreover the Curculionidoe have peculiarly strong 

 and wiry legs, and the large species could probably cause 

 considerable inconvenience and pain by means of the legs and 

 snout if they fastened on anything that attacked them : any 

 collector of Coleoptera must have noticed this in a small way 

 in the case of our common Otiorrhynchida^. In connection 

 with this subject I was very much interested in the account 



