Abstract
Apropos of the interesting discussion on comparative palatability and warning colours (NATURE, November 19, p. 53; November 26, p. 78), it may be of interest to your readers if I restate in your columns some of the properties of the yellow pigment contained in the wings of the common brimstone and many other butterflies; the possible significance of which in conferring protective unpalatability is suggested by Mr. Beddard. My paper on the subject, to which Mr. Beddard refers, was read before the Chemical Society in June 1889; but, being more or less of a preliminary nature, it was published only in the abstracts of that Society's proceedings (Abst. Proc. Chem. Soc., vol. v., 1889, p. 117; vide also NATURE, vol. xl. p. 335).
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HOPKINS, F. Pigment in Yellow Butterflies. Nature 45, 197–198 (1891). https://doi.org/10.1038/045197c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/045197c0
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