Examples of Warning Colouration 



so as to be inconspicuous ; but numerous ex- 

 ceptions occur which are brightly coloured, and of 

 these individuals many have been experimentally 

 proved to be objectionable as food to most insect- 

 eating animals, being either protected by an 

 unpleasant taste, or covered with hairs or 

 spines. 



Familiar cases are those of the abundant and con- 

 spicuous black and yellow mottled caterpillars of 

 the European Buff-tip Moth (Pygcera bucephala), 

 which are much disliked by birds ; and the 

 gaily - coloured Vapourer Moth caterpillar 

 (Orgyia antiqua\ with its conspicuous tufts of 

 hair. Readers will remember that a few years 

 back these caterpillars were a perfect plague in 

 London, in spite of the abundance of sparrows, 

 which feed freely on smooth green and brown 

 caterpillars. 



Oft-cited examples of warning colouration, are 

 the three great groups of mainly tropical butter- 

 flies the Heliconidce of America, the Acrczidce 

 of Africa, and the Danaince found all over the 

 world. In all of these the sexes are alike. 

 They are, every one, strikingly coloured, dis- 

 playing patterns of black and red, chestnut, 

 yellow, or white. In most butterflies the lower 

 surface of the wings is of a quiet hue, in order 

 to render the organism inconspicuous when at 

 rest, but in these warningly coloured groups the 

 under surface of the wings is as gaudy as the 



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