1911.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 29 



shrimp, which they accordingly term the aquatic or "fish cricket." 

 Locusts were likewise eaten and were similarly prepared and pre- 

 served for winter use. The cicada was eaten both fresh and after 

 cooking. Indian children may still often be seen catching these insects, 

 deftly removing head and appendages, and eating the bodies at once 

 with evident relish. 



It was, however, upon the products of the plant kingdom as available 

 in the flora in some of its features outlined above that the Gosiutes 

 placed their chief dependence for food, a fact that led, in the trapper 

 and pioneer days, to their being included under the odious omnibus 

 designation of "diggers." Living close to nature and impelled by 

 strict necessity, they knew the plants of their region with a thorough- 

 ness truly remarkable. From root to fruit they knew the plants in 

 form and color, texture and taste and according to season and habitat. 

 Whatever portion of a plant could serve in any degree for food they 

 had found out, and whatever would poison or injure they had learned 

 to avoid. From plants, too, they obtained most of their remedies, 

 which were many, as well as the materials for making most of their 

 household and other utensils. The education of the Gosiute children 

 in a knowledge of these and other matters important to them in their 

 original state was looked after with great care by the grandparents, 

 as among other Indians, the older men and women, because of their 

 longer experience and consequent more extensive knowledge, being 

 looked up to as the natural teachers and advisers in the tribe; but 

 since the change in mode of life consequent upon the coming of 

 the white race this education is much neglected. As a result, the 

 knowledge concerning plants and their properties possessed by the 

 younger generations is much inferior to that of the older men and 

 women now fast passing away. 



The Gosiutes ate the leaves and stems of many plants as "greens" 

 after boiling them in water according to the usual custom. Some 

 members of the Cruciferse and Composite containing acrid or otherwise 

 distasteful oils or other principles were sometimes taken through a 

 preliminary course of repeated washings to remove the objectionable 

 taste as far as possible, after which they were cooked and eaten as 

 usual. The leaves and petioles of the arrowroot {Balsamorhiza 

 sagittata), termed ku'-si-a-ken-dslp, furnished one of the most used and 

 dependable foods of this type. This is a conspicuous and abundant 

 member of the early-season flora throughout the region. The hastate 

 leaves of this plant, mostly radical and forming a tuft, are eight or 

 nine inches long, with still longer petioles, and the flowers are large, 



