422 A NATURALIST OX THE " CHALLENGER." 



Chinese are especially tasteful in arranging flower decora- 

 tions. At a Chinese dinner at which I was present, and which 

 Avas most hospitably arranged for us by Mr. E. Eowitt, one of the 

 Hong Kong merchants, the entire walls of the room in which 

 the entertainment took place were covered with most beautiful 

 flowers set in tasteful patterns in a backing of moss. 



The dining-table was closely packed with dishes of most 

 varied kinds, tastefully ornamented and arranged. There were 

 absolutely no bare spaces, a display of profusion being evidently 

 intended. I was astonished to find as a condiment in the 

 sauce of some stewed pigeons, specimens of the well-known but 

 curious Cordyceps sinensis. This is a fungus which attacks 

 and kills the caterpillars of certain moths ; the fungus pene- 

 trates the tissues of the living larva, and after the larva has 

 buried itself in the ground in order to assume the pupa state, 

 the fungus throws out above ground a long stem from the dead 

 body of the larva. 



The dried dead caterpillar, with the fungus outgrowth at- 

 tached, is one of the many Chinese delicacies which seem so 

 strange to us, nearly all of which are prized, because, in addition 

 to their gastronomic qualities, they are credited with exercising 

 certain invigorating medicinal effects. The caterpillars are sold 

 tied up in small bundles, and the article is called " the summer 

 grass of the winter worm." 



It is the fashion to decry Chinese delicacies as especially 

 nasty, and the well-known eggs, which are pickled and buried 

 for years before being eaten, are always cited as instances of 

 especially disgusting food ; but after all this is more a matter of 

 education and prejudice on the part of the foreign observer, than 

 any real difference of habit in the Chinaman. Englishmen are 

 apt to forget that their countrymen habitually prefer to eat game 

 and cheese in a state of decomposition, and the latter often 

 when swarming with maggots, and in a condition such that it 

 would possibly sicken a Chinaman to look at it. Nearly all races 

 fancy some form of food in a state of decomposition, and no 

 doubt regard that particular food when in that condition as 

 we do cheese, as simply " ripe." 



Some of the popular prejudices with regard to Chinese cus- 



