286 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [June, 
British birds further suggests the unreliability of disregard as a 
guide to natural tastes. 
In consequence of the too great fondness of some experimenters 
for psychological deductions, the writer, in judging experiments, has 
separated ‘disregards’ for the reasons above stated, and has taken 
cognizance only of rejections that resulted from actual trial. But a 
rejection has been credited for each time the experimenter says the 
object was refused, even if it was eaten later. This is certainly as 
great a concession in favor of the experiments as can be expected 
from one who believes not at all in their utility. Tabulations have 
been made anew (whenever possible) from the detailed accounts of 
the experiments. It cannot be hoped that these are free from error, 
but it may properly be assumed that they are approximately correct. 
The earlier experiments especially are characterized by the average 
small number of tests of the various insects. For this reason, single 
or a very few acceptances or refusals have been held to prove the 
palatability or otherwise of a certain form. Thus in the eyes of 
those who had faith in experiments, results piled up in a really 
beautiful way. It is not out of order, however, to point out in 
advance that there are many inconsistencies between the various 
sets of experiments and that these show that conclusions based 
upon a few trials are extremely liable to be overturned. 
An interesting case showing the danger of basing conclusions upon 
a single rejection is given by Jenner Weir (Trans. Ent. Soc. London, 
1869, p. 22): “The imago of Spilosoma menthastri. . . . was tasted 
by the reed bunting, but not relished, and soon dropped; the ..: . 
bird, however, attracted by the fluttering insect, returned to it, and 
ultimately swallowed it.’’ If the insect had been taken out, the 
single rejection would, of course, have stood as the reed bunting’s 
record. A case illustrating the possibilities of single acceptances or 
rejections is R. I. Pocock’s experiment on ‘‘the distastefulness of 
Anosia plexippus’’ (Nature, 87, 1911, pp. 484-485). A specimen was 
offered to eleven species of birds and refused a total of thirteen times 
by them, before it was offered to a tinamou, which swallowed it at 
once. Reversing the experiment thus might have given an exactly 
opposite impression of the palatability of this insect. 
In the following pages the expressions accepted, rejected, and 
disregarded are often abbreviated to A, R, and D, respectively. In 
general, the experiments are reviewed in groups determined by the 
classes of animals tested. 
