176 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



gives as a typical example the larva of the Magpie Moth (Abraxas 

 grossulariata), as a showy, self-advertising, inedible creature, 

 regarding which " all observers agree that birds, lizards, frogs, 

 and spiders either refuse the species altogether, or exhibit signs 

 of the most intense disgust after tasting it."* This caterpillar 

 is very common in gardens, and other and previous observers 

 (Jenner Weir, Butler, and, more cautiously and critically, Bed- 

 dard) have advanced a similar opinion as to its more or less 

 immunity from attack. But Prof. Plateau, of Ghent, has sub- 

 jected the question to a thorough experimental investigation, 

 and finds that A. grossulariata does not disregard means of 

 concealment, that it is protected by no special nauseous flavour, 

 and that it is readily attacked under suitable conditions by 

 certain Vertebrata, Arachnida, Coleoptera, Adephaga, and insect 

 parasites. He concludes : — " The results of this research go to 

 prove that, in the case of Abraxas, conspicuous coloration does 

 not possess the warning significance which has been attributed 

 to it, and naturalists will do well to apply further experimental 

 tests to other cases in which this explanation has met with a 

 too facile acceptance." t In the pages of this Journal, Mr. Page 

 has recorded how both larvae and imagos of this species were 

 greedily eaten by the birds in his aviary ; \ and Mr. Oxley 

 Grabham has found the stomachs of Cuckoos " crammed with 

 these obnoxious larvae." § 



Although it is dangerous to state the factors of all animal 

 psychology in the terms applied to our own, it is still as equally 

 misleading to allow the theory of automatism to dominate our 

 minds when observing the actions of other animals. Some 

 of the most highly educated, as well as some of the most 

 ignorant men contemn their other animal colleagues as speech- 

 less, and imply that articulate language as used by ourselves 

 must be the only means for interchange of ideas, and this in 

 face of the well-known contrary evidence afforded by "gesture 



* ' Colours of Animals,' p. 168. 



f ' Mem. Soc. Zool. France,' 1894, pp. 149-53.— An English abstract of 

 this paper will also be found in ' Natural Science,' vol. vi. p. 82 ; and in Ent. 

 Month. Mag. 2nd ser. vol. vi. p. 70. 



I ' Zoologist,' 1897, p. 169. 



§ Ibid. p. 236. 



