NOTONECTID^ — WATER-BOATMEN. 211 



They are prepared in various ways, but usually made into 

 cakes, which are eaten with a sauce flavored with chillies."^ 

 Rev. Thomas Smith enumerates the following insects as 

 eaten by the ancient Mexicans : The Atelepitz, " a marsh 

 beetle, resembling in shape and size the flying beetles, having 

 four (?) feet, and covered with a hard shell." The Alojnnan, 

 " a marsh grasshopper of a dark color and great size, 

 being no less than six inches long and two broad. "(!) The 

 Ahuihuitla, " a worm which inhabits the Mexican lakes, four 

 inches long, and of the thickness of a goose quill, of a 

 tawny color on the upper part of the body, and white upon 

 the under part; it stings with its tail, which is hard and 

 poisonous." And the Ocuiliztac, "a black marsh worm, 

 which becomes white on being roasted."^ 



1 Annals of Nat. Hist. Simmond's Curiosities of Food, p. 308-311. 

 '^Nature and Art, xii. 198. 



