80S ON THE PALATABILITV OF SOME BRITISH INSECTS. 



Page 849. 



Although so many insectivorous animals in confinement dis- 

 regarded the special defence of Formica rufa, there can be little 

 doubt that such defence is very effective in the wild state. It is 

 impossible on any other hypothesis to account for the conditions 

 under which the species exists — swarming in vast numbers in 

 restricted areas and an easy prey to any enemy that would dare 

 to attack. 



A very important conclusion is suggested by several of the 

 experiments recorded in this memoir, namely, that the tastes of 

 mammals and birds are widely different. The author points out 

 that the defence of the ground-beetles appealed more strongly 

 to the mammals than to the birds, but it was also apparent in 

 many of the experiments that the unpalatability of conspicuous 

 Lepidoptera was, conversely, far more obvious to the birds than 

 to the mammals. In view of the part which birds are believed 

 to play in the production of mimetic resemblance, it is obvious 

 that this inference may be highly significant. 



[60] 



