PALATABILITY OP SOME BRITISH INSECTS 867 



the experiments which are recoixled on pp. 825-827. The results 

 as a whole leave little doubt that Melitcea is distasteful to many 

 birds, and that it does actually possess the qualities which would 

 render it an advantageous model for the Hesperiidfe. 



Pages 827-830. 



The experiments on Melanm-gia gcdathea are of peculiar interest. 

 The northern belt Satyrinse of this genus, with their white ground- 

 colour, stand out from the rest of their group. The under sui-faces 

 are conspicuous, the species slow- flying and so abundant locally 

 that they may be called gregarious. The observations here 

 recoi'ded show that they are also distinguished by their greater 

 distastefulness from other common northern Satyrines. The 

 appeai-ance of the species of Melanargia, especially on the wing, 

 is markedly Pierine-like, and it is here also probable that a highly 

 distasteful genus has mimicked an assemblage of species which, 

 although generally less unpalatable, are excessively widespread and 

 abundant in individuals (see also p. 865). 



Pages 830-831. 



The experiments upoij Lycajnidse, Nemeobiina?, and Hesperiidfe 

 were not sufficiently numerous to form the foundation for safe 

 conclusions. 



Pages 831-855. 



The remaining experiments, for the most part, afford valuable 

 confirmation of previous work, but they also raise new questions 

 of great interest. Confirmation is afforded by the evident un- 

 palatability of Zygcena, Uicchelia, and Abraxas among the moths, 

 of the Saw-fly larvae, of the Telephoridas, Phytophaga, and Cocci- 

 nellidse among the beetles, and of the Hemiptera, as also by the 

 special and peculiar defensive secretions of the Carabidfe and, in 

 sharp contrast to all these observations, by the palatability of the 

 procryptically coloured moths and larvse. 



Pages 847-848. 



The apparent distastefulness of the humble-bee-like Volucella 

 honibylans suggests conclusions of so much importance and intei-est 

 that abundant confirmation is essential, and should be readilv 

 available with so common a species. 



Pages 848-852. 



Experimental evidence that the Aculeate Hymenoptera possess 

 some special defence independently of the stings of the females is 

 now obtained for the first time. It was suggested as probable by 

 the present writer in 1904, as a result of the observation that the 

 males of the bee Sphecodes emerge in immense numbers and 

 form complex mimetic associations, before the appearance of the 

 females, as also from the consideration that the Braconidse are 

 extensively mimicked *. 



* Trans. Eiit. Soc. Lond. 1904, pp. 645-6. 



