308 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 



Knox tells us that they are eaten in Ceylon^: — an un- 

 grateful return for their honey and wax which I would 

 on no account recommend. Piso speaks of yellow ants 

 called Cupid inhabiting Brazil, the abdomen of which 

 many used for food, as well as a larger species under the 

 name of Tama-joura^ ; which account is confirmed by 

 Humboldt, who informs us that ants are eaten by the 

 Marivatanos and Margueritares, mixed with resin for 

 sauce. Ants, I speak from experience, have no unplea- 

 sant flavour ; they are very agreeably acid, and the taste 

 of the trunk and abdomen is different ; so that I am not 

 so much surprised as Mr. Consett seems to have been at 

 the avidity with which the young Swede mentioned by 

 him sat down to the siege of an ants' nest*^. This author 

 states, that in some parts of Sweden ants are distilled 

 along with rye, to give a flavour to the inferior kinds of 

 brandy '^. — Under this head may not improperly be men- 

 tioned several galls the product of different species of 

 Cynips, particularly those found on some kinds of Sage, 

 viz. Salvia poniifera, S. triloba, and S. officinalis, which 

 are very juicy like apples, and crowned with rudiments 

 of leaves resembling the calyx of that fruit. They 

 are esteemed in the Levant for their aromatic and acid 

 flavour, especially when prepared with sugar, and form 

 a considerable article of commerce from Scio to Con- 

 stantinople, where they are regularly exposed in the 

 market^. The galls of ground-ivy have also been eaten 

 in France ; but Reaumur, who tasted them, is doubtful 

 whether they will ever^rank with good fruits^. 



* Knox's Ceylon, 25. " Piso, J«d. 1. v. c. 13. 29). 

 ' Traveh in Sweden, 118. '' Jlrid. 



• Smith's Introd. to Bol. 346. Olivi-jr'g Travcli, \. 129, 

 ' Ilcaum. iii. 41^. 



