92 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 
associates in the tropics, that in spite of all attacks, these insects possess 
in the highest degree the qualities which render them valuable as models. 
I now propose to direct your attention to certain experiments and 
observations which throw light on the brain and senses of Vertebrate 
enemies of insects. Although the experiments brought before this Section 
at Manchester in 1887 were few and single, I believed, and I still believe, 
they were crucial, and proved beyond doubt that the mind and memory 
of even a Reptilian enemy—and of course far more probably an Avian 
enemy—are such as we should expect to find in the selective agents which 
have brought about the evolution of mimicry in insects. I refer to 
the chameleon, which, after rejecting a bee which it had captured 
the moment after its introduction into the cage—after this single 
experience—would never touch another, although offered from time to 
time during many months ; also to the lizard, which approached a hornet- 
like Clearwing Moth with the utmost circumspection, and in finally seizing 
it kept as far as possible away from the supposed sting, and then, evidently 
realising from the texture that the insect was not a wasp or hornet, pro- 
ceeded to eat it without further caution, and a few days later recognised 
another at sight and instantly devoured it. 
It is not to be hoped that these experiments will carry the same 
conviction to those who only hear of the results and did not see them ; but 
in recent years other evidence throwing much light on the faculties and 
behaviour of birds has been steadily accumulating.** 
The conclusions of the distinguished ornithologists, E. C. Stuart Baker 
and Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, that the resemblance of Cuckoos’ eggs to 
those of the fosterers has been evolved through the selective destruction 
of the less like by the birds which would otherwise have been victimised, 
obviously bears closely on the development of a mimetic pattern in insects. 
The similarity between the two selective processes, both leading to a 
superficial likeness which changes with the geographical changes of the 
models, was made the subject of the Address to the Entomological Society 
in January 1926, and led to the last words addressed to me, although 
indirectly, by William Bateson, the distinguished ex-President of this 
Section and of the Association, whose loss we all deplore. Not many 
days before his death he was present at the meeting and told a mutual 
friend that he was much interested in the observations and that they were 
quite new to him. 
Evidence of a different kind, but probably very significant, is provided 
by the well-known African Honey Guide (Indicator) which directs man 
to a bee’s nest and is repaid by a meal on the scattered larve. My 
friend, Dr. Neave, has told me that this bird, when insufficient attention 
is paid to its directions, becomes so noisy that game is disturbed, and he 
found it necessary, on hunting expeditions, to detail a couple of natives 
to follow the Guide and keep it quiet. How far the behaviour of the bird 
is instinctive and how far intelligent is, I believe, unknown, but it is 
impossible to imagine a more fascinating subject for investigation. 
54 Nearly all these observations are recorded or quoted with full references in the 
Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London in recent years, and will be 
easily traced. 
