WARNING COLORATION. 149 



refused to toucli this caterpillar wlien offered to them ; occa- 

 sionally it was tasted by the tree frog, and once " chewed 

 for some time," but finally rejected, by a hungry Lacerta 

 muralis. Mr. Weir once found that a specimen was eaten 

 by Lacerta viridis. Some experiments made by myself at 

 the Zoological Gardens partly confirm and partly contradict 

 the conclusion to which the above observations appear to 

 point — viz., that the larva is regarded by birds as inedible. 



Several birds, including the Kagu, Psophia, and one or two 

 species of Curassows, pecked several times at caterpillars which 

 I gave them. Two species of Tanager and a White-eye 

 {Zosterops), took a caterpillar in their bill and masticated it 

 for a long time ; the White-eye, I am inclined to think, ended 

 by swallowing the insect. In any case a large ground ciickoo 

 {Garpococcyx radiatus) undoubtedly did swallow a caterpillar 

 after one or two preliminary pecks. Several other birds made 

 more than one ineffectual attempt to conquer their dislike for 

 what was evidently a disagreeable morsel ; but only one bird 

 (a small finch) absolutely declined to have anything to do 

 with it. It should be mentioned, however, that this individual 

 had observed a neighbour industriously pecking at the cater- 

 pillar, but evidently disinclined to swallow it. 



I also experimented with four monkeys, which are well 

 known to be great eaters of insects. A marmoset {Midas 

 rufimanus) ate one up quite greedily, to the very last bit ; two 

 Cebus monkeys and a Cercopithecus callitrichus sucked at the 

 caterpillar and threw away the skin after the contents had 

 been entirely extracted ; they paused every now and again to 

 sniff suspiciously at the caterpillar, but nevertheless they 

 steadily persevered in munching it. These experiments show 

 that, with a few exceptions, the caterpillar of the Magpie moth 

 is distasteful to animals. 



