172 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 



which is the size of the thumb, has been long in request in both the Indies, 

 ^lian speaks of an Indian king, who for a dessert, instead of fruit, set 

 before his Grecian guests a roasted worm taken from a plant, proliably the 

 larva of this insect, which he says the Indians esteem very delicious — a 

 character that was confirmed by some of the Greeks who tasted it.^ Ma- 

 dame Merian has figured one of these larvae, and says that the natives of 

 Surinam roast and eat them as something very exquisite.^ A friend of 

 mine, who has resided a good deal in the West Indies, where the palm grub 

 is called Gnigru, informs me that the late Sir Jolm La Forey, who was 

 somewiiat of an epicure, was extremely fond of it when properly cooked. 



The larvEe also of the kirger species of the Capricorn tribe (Ceravibyx L.; 

 Longicorncs Latr.) are accounted very great delicacies in many countries ; 

 and the Cossus of Pliny, which he tells us tlie Roman epicures fattened 

 with flour^, most probably belonged to this tribe. Linne indeed, following 

 the opinion of Ray*, supposes the caterpillar of the great goat-moth, the 

 anatomy of which has been so wonderlully traced by the eye and pencil of 

 the incomparable Lyonet, to be the Cossus. But there seems a strong 

 reason against this opinion ; for Linne's Cossus lives most commonly in 

 the willow, Pliny's in the oak ; and the former is a very disagreeable, ugly, 

 and fetid larva, not very likely to attract the Roman epicures. Probably 

 they were the larvaB of Priomis coriarius, which I have myself extracted from 

 the oak, or of one of its congeners.^ The grub of P. damicornis, which 

 is of the thickness of a man's finger, is eaten at Surinam, in America, and 

 in the West Indies, both by whites and blacks, who empty, wash, and roast 

 them, and find them delicious.^ Mr Hall informs me, that in Jamaica this 

 grub is called Macauco, and is in request at the principal tables. A simi- 

 lar insect is dressed at Mauritius under the name of Moutac, which the 

 whites as well as negroes eat greedily.'' The larva of ^^. cervicornis, is, 

 according to Linne, held in equal estimation: and that oi Acantliocinus 

 tribidus, when ro'asted, forms an article of food in Africa.® It is probable 

 that all the species of this genus might be sai'ely eaten, as well as many 

 other grubs of Colcoptera; and although I do not feel dis])osed to recom- 

 mend with Reaumur®, that the larvae of Ori/ctcs nasicornis should be sought 

 for " dans Ics couches de fiimier," yet I think with Dr. Darwin ^°, that those 

 of the cockchafer which feed ujjon the roots of grass, or the perfect in- 

 sects themselves, which, if we may judge from the eagerness with which 

 cats, and turke} s and other birds, devour them, are no despicable boime 



^ ^lian. Hist. 1. xiv. c. 13. ; quoted in Eeaum. ii. 343. 



2 Jns. Sur. 48. 3 Hist. Nat. 1. xvii. c. 24. 



* Wisdom of God, 9th ed. 307. Eay first adopted the opinion here maintained, 

 that the Cossi were the larvaj of some beetle ; but afterwards, from observing in 

 the caterpillar of Cossus Ugnipcrda a power of retracting its prolegs within the bodj-, 

 he conjectured that the hexapod larva from Jamaica (jPW&ji^s dam/corH/sJ'), given 

 him by Sir Hans Sloane, might have the same faculty-, and so be the caterpillar of a 

 Bombj'x. 



* Amoreux has collected the different opinions of entomologists on the subject of 

 Pliny's Cossus, which has been supposed to be the larva of Cordi/lia palmarum by 

 CeottVoy; of Lucanus cervus by Scopoli, and ci Piionns damicornis by Drury. 

 The lirst and last, being neither natives of Italy, nor inhabiting the oak, are out of 

 the question. The larvae of Lucanus cervtis and Prinfius coiiarius, v/hich. are found 

 in the oak as well as in other trees, may each have been eaten under this name, as 

 their ditlerence would not be discernible either to collectors or cooks. — Amoreux, 134. 



c Merian, Jns. Su?: 24. ' St. Pierre, Voi/. 72. 8 Smeathman, 32. 



» Eeaum. ii. S44. 1° Fhytol. 364. 



