1895 .] Frank Finn — Theory of Warning Colours and Mimicry. 347 
food by it, and had had cockroaches in the morning. Another cater¬ 
pillar, smaller, and covered with long whitish hair, with two pencils of 
hair near the head, was untouched. 
December 1 1th. —A Babbler ate an Duproctis readily. The hairy 
caterpillar not eaten yesterday was still untouched, so I took it away. 
December 18 th. — The Babblers ate four specimens of Duproctis ; 
they were hungry. They ate some Catopsilia and other non-warningly- 
coloured butterflies with relish, and ate also three Danais genutia; but 
only one of these was eaten directly by one and the same bird, and the 
others were evidently not relished much, for the birds ate Papilios * of 
equal size much more readily. Specimens of a black beetle with yellow 
patches ( Mylabris sp. ) were taken, and the elytra got rid of, but the 
birds did not seem to like the body, and I saw one left. 
December 19 th. — The birds were hungry in the morning, and one 
ate a Danais chrysippus readily enough. Then a D. limniace was readily 
eaten. An Euploea was also eaten; the bird pecked it about on the 
ground much first, seeming especially to attack the yellow anal organ. 
A cockroach subsequently put in excited more competition than these but¬ 
terflies, and caused a fight. Several D. genutia and chrysippus were then 
turned into the aviary, and two of the Babblers immediately attacked 
them. I gave them some Duproctis, and they ate some, I believe all, 
of them. By this time, too, they had torn all the Danais to pieces, and 
as I saw no bodies lying about, I presume eaten them, though they had 
now some plantain (a food they did not relish). In the evening an 
Duploea was eaten, though there was food in the cage. 
Yesterday, I think, I put the hairy caterpillar which had previously 
escaped destruction, in again. It remained untouched for a day, and 
next morning I found it dead in the water. The birds seemed never 
even to look at it. 
December 21st.— Two of the Babblers had been placed in the cage of 
a Bhimraj ( Dissemurusparadiseus ), and this bird put in the aviary with a 
Laughing Jackass ( Dacelo gigas ,) (not used in these experiments) and one 
Babbler. Another of the hairy caterpillars noted previously (Dec. 1 6th) 
as eaten by a Babbler remained untouched for some time, but afterwards 
I found it dead and deprived of its hair, but uneaten. I don’t know which 
bird did this. I put a mixed lot of butterflies in the aviary, and saw the 
Babbler, which was hungry, three times take and. eat a non-warningly- 
coloured butterfly in preference to Danais chrysippus and D. genutia , 
which it could easily have caught. Indeed, I saw it take and drop a 
D. genutia , and seize and eat a Papilio* instead. It ate a grasshopper 
before any butterflies. At the end of the day two Papilios (one torn) 
* Not P. aristolochix , 
J. ir. 44 
