EXPLANATION OF FORM AND COLOURING. 251 



Charaxes poUux, Charaxes cifhceron, Pyrameis cardui, and Precis cebrene were 

 now eaten, a yellow Gegenes not offered before was well tasted and rejected, 

 and Exirytela hiarhas, offered with the disguise of a Pyrameis wing in place of its 

 own, was well tasted and rejected. None of the three rejected skippers had any 

 appreciable smell. 



Charaxes hrutus natalensis, Precis cebrene, and Charaxes cithceron were now all 

 readily eaten, and after them Atella phalantha, Precis archesia, and Hamanumicla 

 dcedalus, each after the usual tasting. 



Charaxes candiope and Charaxes cithmron were now eaten with difficulty, and a 

 second Charaxes cithceron merely played with and finally tossed away and refused 

 on being reoffered. The bird now refused without tasting Precis elgiva and Py- 

 rarmis cardui, but, finally changing her mind, accepted and ate the lattei'. Precis 

 cehrene was then refused without tasting and a Pyrameis carditi accepted and eaten. 

 A second Pyrameis, however, was persistently refused without tasting, though 

 oflfered repeatedly at intervals. 

 [Summary: — 



(1) Extracts from my comments made immediately after the experiment : 

 " The bird started distinctly hungry and remained in excellent brisk tasting 

 form from start to finish. 



" There could be not the slightest doubt that the Nychitonas were far more 

 disliked than any species of Mylothris. They were quite fairly tasted and then 

 thrown away with marked disgust, whereas all three species of Mylothris were, 

 up to the sixth Charaxes, eaten, after tasting, without the slightest hesitation. 

 Nyctemera too was almost certainly liked better than Nychitona, being kept 

 in the mouth much longer and not pitched away with the same emphasis. 

 It was, however, very decidedly disliked. The rejected Mylothris lacked the 

 heavy menthol-smell that so often characterizes M. agathina $ , but M. yulei of 

 each sex had the usual urine and sweet-brier scents, respectively, well developed. 

 The Belenois (ad") smelt of honey (the first individual in which I have noticed 

 this, captured by myself in the coffee-plantation) and was decidedly better liked 

 than a $ if. agathina with almost no scent. The Mycalesis was quite likely less 

 liked than the N. agatha or the Byhlia, judging from the far prompter manner of 

 its rejection .... The Eurytela hiarhas ofiered under guise of P. cardui seemed to 

 secure a perfectly genuine tasting and was probably rejected on its own merits and 

 unconfused with Neptis. ..." I also recorded my impression from this and 

 previous experiments that N. agatha is somewhat more readily attacked than 

 N, goochi. 



(2) Some grades : 



Many of the acceptances were doubtless in part due to special stimulation by 

 the preceding acceptance. Omitting these, and assuming for convenience that 

 L. thalassina and L. argia were approximately equally liked, the order of 

 preference would be roughly — 



LINN. JOURN. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XXXIII. 19 



