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Science 27 September 1968:
Vol. 161. no. 3848, pp. 1349 - 1350
DOI: 10.1126/science.161.3848.1349
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Articles

Ecological Chemistry and the Palatability Spectrum

Lincoln P. Brower 1, William N. Ryerson 1, Lorna L. Coppinger 1, and Susan C. Glazier 1

1 Department of Biology, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002

A new bioassay for comparing the palatability to avian predators of monarch butterflies reared on various asclepiadaceous food plants containing cardiac glycosides indicates a palatability spectrum. The monarchs reared on one plant species are six times as emetic as those fed another, while those raised on an asclepiad which lacks cardiac glycosides are not emetic at all.


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