INSECTS EMPLOYED IN MEDICINE, OE AS FOOD. 103 



cause. They are still eaten by tlie American Indians, 

 who boil a species known as Cicada septemdedm,wlnich. 

 is eaten raw by the natives of New South Wales. 



Concerning bugs (Cimex), which belong to the 

 same family as Oicada, although they abound in 

 some parts of Paris and London, we know of no use 

 whatever that could be made of them ! Southey 

 once remarked, " We have not taken animals 

 enough into alliance with us. The more spiders 

 there were in the stable the less would the horses 

 suffer from flies. The fire-fly (Elater noctihica) 

 should be imported into Spain to destroy mos- 

 quitoes. In hot countries a reward should be offered 

 to the man who could discover what insects feed 

 upon fleas." 



It is well known that cockroaches (Blatta Ameri- 

 cana) destroy bugs, and when a house is infested 

 with one of these noxious insects, it is rare that the 

 other will be found in the same place. But man 

 himself appears hitherto to be the animal that 

 destroys most fleas. 



Many more disgusting insects than those just 

 mentioned are eaten in different parts of the world, 

 but as this work might fall into the hands of people 

 of delicate appetites, I shall pass them over, and 

 refer to Kirby and Spence's manual for a descrip- 

 tion of the Pteropliagi, a people of Africa, who chase 

 the game upon their own private property. 



