Cae) 
Exhibitions. 
PROTECTIVE SuBsTANCES IN 6 ScENT-GLANDS.—Professor 
KE. B. Pourton, F.R.8., exhibited male specimens of the 
Danaine butterflies Amawris egialea, Cram., and Limnas 
chrysippus, 1., collected at Ibadan, near Lagos (December 5-12, 
1906), by Mr. H. 8. Gladstone. The interest of the specimens 
lay in the fact that the scent-producing patch near the anal 
angle of the hind-wing had been eaten out on both sides— 
very cleanly and neatly in the case of the Amawris—although 
only a minute portion of any other part of the wing-surface 
had been attacked. The abdomen was almost entirely want- 
ing, but the basal portion which remained showed that it had 
been almost certainly devoured. ‘The head and thorax also 
appeared to be quite empty. Professor Poulton stated that 
he had occasionally observed the evidence of such attacks upon 
the supposed scent-patches of Danainx, but he believed that 
the Amawris was the best and clearest case he had ever seen. 
This special attack upon Danaine scent-patches becomes of 
even greater interest and significance when we remember that 
dead specimens of this and the allied sub-family, the /thomiine, 
are less liable than other specimens to be injured by the pests 
which destroy insect collections.* On the other hand, the fact 
that the whole interior of the body was devoured appears to 
indicate indifference on the part of this particular pest to any 
specially protective substances existing in a desiccated state ; 
and it may well be that special attack was directed upon 
the scent-glands merely on account of their substance as 
compared with the rest of the wing surface. The facts appear 
to tell strongly against the view that specially protective 
(aposematic) substances are, as some have supposed, concen- 
trated in the male scent-glands; but it would not be safe to 
draw any more far-reaching conclusions. 
Inasmuch as an alternative view has been mentioned, it may 
be advantageous to quote the following passage from a paper 
published in 1882 by Professor Menpoxa, F.R.S. (Ann. Mag. 
* H. W. Bates, Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., vol. xxiii, 1862, p. 510 ; 
R. Meldola, Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1877, p. xii. Confirmed also by 
J. Jenner Weir. 
