006 ON THE PALATABILITY OP SOME BRITISH INSECTS. 



Page 849. 



Although SO many insectivoi-ous animals in confinement dis- 

 regarded the special defence of Formica riifa, thei^e can be little 

 doubt that such defence is very effective in the wild state. It is 

 impossible on any other hypothesis to accovint for the conditions 

 under which the species exists — swarming in vast numbers in 

 restricted areas and an easy prey to any enemy that would dare 

 to attack. 



A veiy important conclusion is suggested by several of the 

 experiments i-ecorded in this memoir, namely, that the tastes of 

 mammals and birds are widely difierent. The author points out 

 that the defence of the gi-ound-beetles appealed more strongly 

 to the mammals than to the birds, but it was also apparent in 

 many of the experiments that the unpalatability of conspicuous 

 Lepidoptera was, conversely, far moi-e obvious to the birds than 

 to the mammals. In view of the part which bii-ds are believed 

 to play in the production of mimetic resemblance, it is obvious 

 that this inference may be highly significant. 



ADDENDUM. 



Dr. p. Chalmers Mitchell's Memoir "On Longevity and 

 Relative Viability in Mammals and Birds," P. Z. S. 

 1911, p. 425. 



[The Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain has kindly called my attention to 

 the fact that I have overlooked a valuable paper " On the 

 Duration of Life of the Animals in the Zoological Garden at 

 Frankfort-on-the-Main,"' by Director Dr. Max Schmidt, P. Z. S. 

 1880, p. 299, and containing many valuable figures as to 

 longevity].— P. G. i¥., Aug. 2, 1911. 



