Mr.
Poulton then reviewed the whole subject, incorporating all recorded facts, as well as some additional observations made by Mr.Jenner Weir in 1886.

More than a hundred species of larvae or of perfect insects of various orders have now been made the subject of experiment, and the results completely confirm my original suggestion.

In almost every case the protectively coloured larvae have been greedily eaten by all kinds of insectivorous animals, while, in the immense majority of cases, the conspicuous, hairy, or brightly coloured larvae have been rejected by some or all of them.

In some instances the inedibility of the larvae extends to the perfect insect, but not in others.

In the former cases the perfect insect is usually adorned with conspicuous colours, as the burnet and ragwort moths; but in the case of the buff-tip, the moth resembles a broken piece of rotten stick, yet it is partly inedible, being refused by lizards.