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xxxi] Wednesday, May 4th, 1910. 



Edibility of Lepidopterous Larvae. — Mr. H. Eltringham 

 stated that in reference to his previous paper describing experi- 

 ments on the edibility of certain lepidopterous larvae (Trans. 

 Eut. Soc, 1909, pp. 471-478), the caterpillars there referred to 

 as Boarmia rhoniboidaria had proved to be Odontopera biden- 

 tata. Further, that some of the moths had been bred from 

 larvae fed exclusively on ivy, and though similar larvae had, as 

 explained in the paper referred to, proved extremely distaste- 

 ful to the lizards with which he had experimented, the moths 

 were found to be palatable. 



His lizards having failed to survive the winter, he had sent 

 the moths to the Zoological Gardens, where Mr. Pocock had 

 xxxii] 



given one to a bird and two to some lizards, Lacerla viridis. 

 The result was described by Mr. Pocock as follows : — 



"Commander J. J. Walker sent me, about a week ago, one 

 of the moths you are interested in, and I gave it to a bird, a 

 black-winged Grackle (Gracidifica melavoptera), a kind of 

 starling from Java. I have tested this bird before with 

 insects and have known him reject some which other birds will 

 eat, thus showing that he is to a certain extent fastidious and 

 not like some birds which will eat almost anything, He took 

 it at once and after pecking it and pulling it about for a little 

 time, swallowed it. He showed no sign of finding the moth in 

 any way distasteful — that is to say, he did not once wipe his 

 beak, or shake his head, or behave as other birds do when they 

 taste anything nasty. Having confidence in his powers of 

 discrimination, I had no hesitation in concluding the moth to 

 be palatable. 



"This was borne outl>y my experiment with the two you sent 

 me this morning. I threw one into a cage of green lizards. 

 One of them seized it at once and swallowed it in ten seconds. 

 I then threw in the other hoping that a second lizard would 

 take it, but the first was on to it in a moment and ate it as 

 soon as ever he had adjusted it in his mouth so as to swallow 

 it head first. I noticed that he squeezed some fluid out of its 



