Biston betularia

Stanley A. Gorodenski stanlep at gateway.net
Mon Nov 22 20:12:53 EST 1999


E.B. Ford in his Ecological Genetics, second edition, in pages 252-257
discusses Kettlewell's experiment in great detail.  Birds definitely
were observed to take B. betularia.

Stan

mothman wrote:
> 
> Doug Yanega's comment that "no one ever has observed birds picking the moths
> off of the trees" may be true for California but such predation has been
> observed and reported by Kettlewell in England. I recall seeing a 'photo
> (taken by Kettlewell) of a European Robin (nothing like the American
> variety) taking a Biston betularia off a tree trunk. I can't find the
> orignal paper but E.B. Ford gives a graphic account of the bird predation on
> betularia in his classic MOTHS (1955), p.204.
> 
> Tony
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> 
> >It's hard to be certain whether this is entirely a legitimate criticism, or
> >just someone trying to stir up controversy by science-bashing, but there is
> >clearly *some* truth to it (i.e., no one ever has observed birds picking
> >the moths off of trees).
> >
> >Peace,
> >
> >
> >Doug Yanega       Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
> >Univ. of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
> >phone: (909) 787-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
> >                http://insects.ucr.edu/staff/yanega.html
> >  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
> >        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
> >
> >

-- 
If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn't
seem wonderful at all.  -- Michelangelo


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