RAVAGES OF GRUBS. 235 



with these grubs, that they were seen in every 

 spoonful of the soup. In the case of soup, or of other 

 food which has been exposed to heat, the only 

 inconvenience is the disgust which must ensue; 

 but, unfortunately, there may sometimes occur cir- 

 cumstances of a more serious nature, — from either 

 the eggs or the insects themselves being incautiously 

 swallowed alive. We do not wish, however, to 

 create, so much as to allay, the fears entertained by 

 those who are unacquainted with the habits of 

 insects; and nothing we are persuaded will do this 

 more effectually than a statement of facts well 

 ascertained. ' Several people,' says the Abbe de la 

 Pluche, ' never eat fruit because they beheve that 

 spiders and other insects scatter their eggs upon it 

 at random;'* but even if this were so, as it is not, 

 it would be impossible for the young, should they be 

 hatched in the stomach, to live there for an instant. 

 The possible cases in which this may occur we shall 

 now briefly notice; they are fortunately very rare. 



The meal worm, and some of the grubs which 

 feed on grain and other provisions, are recorded to 

 have been swallowed, and to have given rise to 

 disorders in the stomach and bowels; but in all such 

 cases it is plain, that if the insects did survive 

 the increased temperature of the stomach, they 

 could only live on the food swallowed from time to 

 time, for, not being carnivorous, they would not attack 



worm, and the beetle produced from it. 

 * Spectacle de la Nature, i, 65. 



