Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection: A Series of EssaysWallace, Alfred Russel
Science
Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection: A Series of Essays
Wallace, Alfred Russel
Natural selection
The only case of probable mimicry in our own country is the
following:--A very common white moth (Spilosoma menthastri) was found by
Mr. Stainton to be rejected by young turkeys among hundreds of other
moths on which they greedily fed. Each bird in succession took hold of
this moth and threw it down again, as if too nasty to eat. Mr. Jenner
Weir also found that this moth was refused by the Bullfinch, Chaffinch,
Yellow Hammer, and Red Bunting, but eaten after much hesitation by the
Robin. We may therefore fairly conclude that this species would be
disagreeable to many other birds, and would thus have an immunity from
attack, which may be the cause of its great abundance and of its
conspicuous white colour. Now it is a curious thing that there is
another moth, Diaphora mendica, which appears about the same time, and
whose female only is white. It is about the same size as Spilosoma
menthastri, and sufficiently resembles it in the dusk, and this moth is
much less common. It seems very probable, therefore, that these species
stand in the same relation to each other as the mimicking butterflies of
various families do to the Heliconidae and Danaidae. It would be very
interesting to experiment on all white moths, to ascertain if those
which are most common are generally rejected by birds. It may be
anticipated that they would be so, because white is the most conspicuous
of all colours for nocturnal insects, and had they not some other
protection would certainly be very injurious to them.
_Lepidoptera mimicking other Insects._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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