CURCULION I DJE— WEEVILS. 69 



length. Its larva, called the Grou-grou,^ or Cabbage-tree 

 worm, which is ver}^ large, Avhite, of an oval shape, resides 

 in the tenderest part of the smaller palm-trees, and is con- 

 sidered, fried or broiled, as one of the greatest dainties in 

 the West Indies. "The tree," says Madame Merian, 

 "grows to the height of a man, and is cut off when it be- 

 gins to be tender, is cooked hke a cauliflower, and tastes 

 better than an artichoke. In the middle of these trees live 

 innumerable quantities of worms, which at first are as small 

 as a maggot in a nut, but afterward grow to a very large 

 size, and feed on the marrow of the tree. These worms 

 are laid on the coals to roast, and are considered as a 

 highly agreeable food."^ Capt. Stedman tells us these 

 larvae are a delicious treat to many people, and that they 

 are regularly sold at Paramaribo. He mentions, too, the 

 manner of dressing them, which is by frying them in a pan 

 with a very little butter and salt, or spitting them on a 

 wooden skewer; and, that thus prepared, in taste they par- 

 take of all the spices of India — mace, cinnamon, cloves, nut- 

 megs, etc.* This gentleman also says he once found con- 

 cealed near the trunk of an old tree a " case-bottle filled 

 with excellent butter," which the rangers told him the na- 

 I tives made by melting and clarifying the fat of this larva.* 

 I Dr. Winterbottom states this grub is served up at all the 

 luxurious tables of West Indian epicures, particularly of the 

 French, as the greatest dainty of the western w^orld.^ 



Dobrizhoflfer doubtless refers to the larva of the Galandra 

 palmarum, when he says: "The Spaniards of Santiago in 

 Tucuman, when they go seeking honey in the woods, cleave 

 certain palm-trees upon their way, and on their return find 

 large grubs in the wounded trees, which they fry as a deli- 

 cious food."^ The same is said of the Guaraunos of the 

 Orinoco — "that they find these grubs in great numbers in 

 the palms, which they cut down for the sake of their juice. 

 After all has been drawn out that will flow, these grubs 



1 Jamieson gives Grou-grou as a Scottish name for the Corn-grub. 

 -Scot. Diet., iii. 510. 



2 Shaw, ZooL, vi. 62. Cuvier, An. Kingd. — Ins., ii. 80. 

 ^ Stedm. Surinam, ii. 23. 



^ Ibid., ii. 115. 



5 AccL of the Sierra Leone Africans, i. 314, note. 



6 Travels, i. 410. 



1* 



