GUSTATORY REJECTION THRESHOLDS FOR THE LARVAE OF THE CECROPIA MOTH, SAMIA CECROPIA (LINN.)

¹ Biological Laboratories of West Virginia Wesleyan College, Buckhannon, West Virginia

Rejection thresholds for HCl, CH₃COOH, NaOH, NaCl, NH₄Cl, KCl, CaCl₂, and LiCl, presented as drops of solutions on leaves of the food plant, were determined for caterpillars of the cecropia moth, Samia cecropia. Rejection thresholds for glucose, sucrose, lactose, and strychnine sulfate either do not exist under these conditions, or are higher than the saturation concentrations of solutions of these substances. The lowest threshold of those tested is that for HCl, but CH₃COOH has greater stimulative efficiency when it is compared with HCl at the same pH. The threshold for NaOH is higher than that for HCl, indicating that the OH^– ion is less stimulating than the H₃O⁺ ion. The order of stimulative efficiency for the cations, as chlorides, is NH₄⁺ = K⁺ > Ca⁺⁺ > Na⁺ > Li⁺. This is the order of ionic mobilities to which the stimulative efficiencies seem to be related. No conclusions can be drawn with certainty as yet regarding the modalities of taste for these animals.

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