Interesting! I wonder about what the article says about female butterflies knowing which plant to lay their eggs on from what they ate as caterpillars. I have fennel and rue in the same bed for black swallowtails, and I watched as the same female laid eggs on both. Maybe she ate both as a caterpillar?

Sherry

Radiolab (WNYC) did a show on the same topic (and some more philosophical musings):

Goo and You

"...memory made it through the goo ... and it came out the other side."

Regarding egg-laying, however, it's probably a bit of a stretch to say that female butterflies select plants based simply on their "memory" of what they ate as caterpillars.

I used to volunteer at a butterfly greenhouse and we were taught that they can smell those plants from far away, even though we cannot smell anything of it. Butterflies are very sensitive creatures. We had to ask people not to let them land on their arms because even something as simple as a Jergens skin lotion with kill them.