130 



HARDWICKE'S SCIEN E-GOSS IP. 



scales, which are characterized by being doubled 

 under, so as to embrace the interior surface of the 

 carapace, thus giving them a more secure fasten- 

 ing ; in some the duplication is only partial. These 

 scales are very thin, flexible, horny, and elastic, 

 marked with concentric lines of growth, which 

 lines are also present, I find, on the upper surface 

 of the bony plates. 



M. Bibron has conjectured that the Bordered 

 tortoise is included by Aristotle under his de- 

 scription of the Earth tortoise (" Hist. Anim.," 1. v. 

 c. xsvii.), and, we ask, may not the land tortoises said 

 by Pliny to inhabit the deserts of Africa, and called 

 by him chersince, be this species? It may, indeed, 

 be T. Mauritanica, which is also very abundant iu 

 that region : probably Pliny includes both.* 



E. Halse. 



WHAT WAS THE TRUE COSSUS OF THE 

 ANCIENTS? 



THAT the old Romans were partial to some 

 large wood-boring larva as an article of food, 

 is certain ; we know, too, that it bore the name of 

 Cossus. But beyond that we are left in darkness, 

 except that the animal is said by Pliny to live on 

 trees, to change into an insect with long antennse, 

 and to have the power of emitting a rather shrill 

 sound — "Sonum edunt parvuli stridoris" ("Hist. 

 Nat.," xvii. 24). The larva, whatever it was, was 

 held in the highest estimation by the gourmets of 

 Rome as a singular delicacy, and was fattened for 

 the table on meal. 



Linnseus, when introducing iiis new nomencla- 

 ture, unfortunately pirclied upon the Goatmoth as 

 the representative of the classic Cossus, and under 

 the name of Phalcena cossus (now Cossus ligni- 

 perda), left the impression on the public mind — an 

 impression which will probably never be completely 

 eradicated — that the refined and wealthy Romans 

 were so degraded in their tastes as to dine off that 

 most unpleasant of all caterpillars. The hircine 

 odour with which the larva is impregnated, and 

 which is expressed in its English name, is due to 

 an oily matter, which it can disgorge for the 

 purpose (it is believed) of softening the woody 

 fibre on which it works. 



Surely this alone would prevent us from believing 

 that the countrymen of Epicurus could indulge in 

 so disgusting a feast. It is true that insects, as 

 Mr. Auld observes (p. 59), still form a part of man's 

 diet, but never among refined and really civilized 

 nations, though many a larva, too dreadful in aspect 

 and odour to be permitted " to come between the 

 wind and our nobility," is held to be a delicacy by 

 savages in all parts of the globe. The larvte of all 



* Compare Pliny, " Hist. Nat.," 1. iv. c. 12, 1, xxxii. c. II. 



the woodboring beetles are eagerly sought after by 

 the aborigines of Australia, especially'^the "Barde," 

 latinized into Bardistes cibarius, which, though 

 exhaling an odour at least as pungent as that of 

 our Goatmoth, is much relished by the natives of 

 King George's Sound. The negro of the West 

 Indies and tropical America searches diligently for 

 a grub, bearing the name of Gru-gru, the parent of 

 which is known to Europeans as the Palm-borer, or 

 Palm-tree Weevil {Rhyiichophorus palmarum). The 

 egg of this beetle develops into a fat footless grub, 

 an inch and a half long, of a white colour, which 

 even the Creoles are said to relish occasionally, 

 though it has never formed a regular article of food 

 among them. In the Moluccas, Wallace tells us, 

 the grubs of the Palm-beetles are regularly brought 

 to market in bamboos and sold for food. The 

 natives of Mexico make the larva of Trichoderes 

 pirn (a member of the long-horned section of 

 Beetles) a part of their fare. 



Naturalists are much divided on the knotty 

 question of the true Cossus of the ancients. Some 

 are inclined ,to give the distinction to the Stag- 

 beetle, whose larva is sufficiently large to make a 

 juicy mouthful; [others contend for some species 

 of Rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes) ; while some are in 

 favour of the exotic Rhynchophorus. Kirby and 

 Speuce are in favour of some large species of the 

 " Capricorn tribe ; " and of these the French 

 entomologist Mulsant has fixed upon the larva of 

 the handsome beetle called Cerambyx (or Ham- 

 matochcerus) heros. This is a very rare insect in 

 England ; indeed, the specimens found here are 

 probably imported \m foreign wood. But in many 

 parts of Europe "heros" is counted among the 

 pests of the forest, the female depositing her eggs 

 on the Oak. 



Pliny's Cossus was also an oak-borer, which the 

 Goatmoth is not ; but then what are we to make of 

 the " parvulus stridor," which the Roman naturalist 

 attributes to his insect ? The only larva which is 

 now known to utter sounds — so far at least as I am 

 aware — is that of the Death's-head Hawk-moth 

 {Acherontia atropos). "The noise made by the 

 caterpillar was first noticed by Fuessly : when 

 disturbed, it draws back its head very quickly, 

 making at the same time a loud snapping noise, 

 which has been compared to a series of electric 

 sparks" (Newman, "British Moths"). Unfor- 

 tunately, however, the caterpillar does not live on 

 trees, nor are the antennse of the perfect insect at 

 all remarkable for their length. 



Altogether the subject, a very curious one, is 

 " shrouded in mystery," 



ItcJien Abbas. W. H. Spicek. 



"In most cases Nature heals a wound after her 

 own fashion better than any one else can do it for 

 her." — Masters' " Botany for Beginners." 



