314 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [June,. 
on pp. 864-868, and show his customary facility in drawing conclu- 
sions satisfactory to himself from the most refractory evidence. 
For instance, he says: ‘‘The experiments on the Pierine support 
the conclusion that the perfection of the under surface procryptic 
resemblance affords a true criterion of the degree of palatability. 
Pieris brassice, with its conspicuous gregarious larva and imago 
larger and less cryptically colored than the other three species . . . . 
was distinctly the least palatable” (pp. 864, 865). The records of 
acceptances and rejections of the three species of Pieris are as follows: 
Pieris rape, A 10 R 2, a proportion of 5 to 1; Pieris brassice, A 40° 
R 33, 1§ to 1; and Pieris napi, A8 R 8,1 tol; P. napi thus being 
the least favored in the experiments. These figures are reproduced’ 
not because the point as to relative palatability is of any importance, 
especially as an indication of natural preferences, but merely to show 
that the experimental results are not accurately judged by those: 
most interested in them. It is of interest to compare Pocock’s 
results with Pieris brassice with those obtained by Dr. G. Rérig in 
Germany. Pocock records the pup of this insect as A 1 R8 D3, 
and the adult as A 16 R7 D1, while Dr. Rorig says*® The pupe-. 
of the Kohlweisling ‘‘were eagerly torn open by all the titmice,’’ and 
the adults ‘‘were always freely eaten by all the birds which I have 
tested.” 
Poulton bases considerable speculation upon the unpalatability 
of Araschnia levana, the record for which in the experiments is A 20 
R 10. He follows this with a page of theorizing on the probable 
mimicry of Melitea by Hesperia, and says that the experimental 
‘‘results as a whole leave little doubt that Jelitea is distasteful to. 
many birds, and that it does actually possess the qualtities which 
would render it an advantageous model for the Hesperiide” (p. 867). 
As a matter of fact, the experiments with birds and Melitea de- 
scribed on pp. 826 and 827 show that it was finally refused by only 
one bird; it was eaten by thirteen species, seven species of which 
took nine specimens without hesitation. Two birds which dropped 
the first specimen offered them later took one and two, respectively, 
including those dropped. The final record for birds is A 18 R 1. 
If this is considered proof that Melitea is advantageous as a model, 
the demands of the theory are most modest. 
On p. 867 he also refers to Melanargia as a highly distasteful genus; 
its record in the experiments is A 14 R 4. Another extract from 
9 Arb. Biol. Abt. f. Land. Forstwirts. K. Gesundheitsamte, 4, 1903, p. 47. 
