74 OF THE SENSES OF 



a priori, that insects had no taste ; for in place of 

 the organs being soft, moist, and furnished with 

 innumerable papillae, their tongues are rigid, dry, 

 and hard. But there can be but little doubt that 

 they do enjoy this sense in a considerable degree, 

 from the fact that they are very particular in the 

 choice of their food ; and most of the butterfly tribe, 

 while in their various conditions, M'ill feed only on 

 the plant on which they were brought into existence, 

 or when in a perfect state, on the nectar of flowers. 



Last autumn, a box and several flowerpots, with 

 mignionette, was covered with numerous caterpillars 

 of the Papilio rhamni. I took many of these off, and 

 put them into a tumbler, to feed and watch their 

 progress as to growth and time of transformation. 

 Wishing to ascertain whether or not they would 

 feed on any other plants than that on \vhich 

 they had been hatched, I allowed them to consume 

 all the leaves, and when I supposed them very 

 hungry, supplied them abundantly with lettuce, sour 

 dock, and other vegetables ; but they refused them 

 all, preferring to gnaw and totally consume the 

 epidermis of the dry stalks, rather than take the 

 proffered food, which, it would appear, was not their 

 native aliment, and they would have died rather 

 than taste any other. The moment that leaves of 

 mignionette were introduced, they speedily found them 

 out, and greedily devoured them. 



De Geer remarked the same thing ; for he found 

 that the larva of a Papilio, which inhabited both 

 the sallow and poplar, would feed only on the trees 

 3 



