170 A NEW DISH FOR EPICURES. 
There could be no more useful task than to enlighten the peasant 
on the distinction that ought to be made between insects useful to 
agriculture and insects which are noxious; or those which may be 
turned to advantage in various sciences,—and especially in Chemistry, 
—which, it is probable, will yet discover unexpected resources in beings 
endowed with so copious and intense a vitality. In this respect, a very 
honourable work of initiation has been undertaken by the eminent 
naturalist who has so skilfully organized the museum at Rouen. All 
his pupils have preserved a grateful recollection of their teacher; and 
it is to one of them I owe the following summary of an original and 
instructive lecture on the Insect as Food. 
“ A prejudice much to be regretted, and a ridiculous fastidiousness, 
has debarred our Western peoples from one of the richest and most 
exquisite sources of nourishment. What right have they who devour 
tainted game, and unclean birds,—what right have the lovers of the 
oyster, that slimy mollusc, to reject the nourishment supplied by the 
Insect World ? 
“Burgundy has the good sense to protit, without any feeling of 
silly disgust, by the excellent molluse which peoples its vineyards,—I 
mean the snail—which is very good with butter and salads, and a 
dish as wholesome for the chest as it is agreeable to the mouth and 
profitable to the stomach. 
“A celebrated savant—Lalande—dared to take a step further in 
advance, and to venture upon the caterpillar, rismg thus another step 
above our prejudices. It is to him we owe our knowledge of the fact 
that the caterpillar tastes like almonds, and the spider like hazel-nuts. 
He addicted himself to the latter, which he found more delicate.’”—I 
should think so. In every sense, the spider is a superior being. 
“Many insects are so nutritious and savoury that they have been 
specially selected by ladies as a diet likely to renew their life, beauty, 
and youth. The Romans of the Later Empire recovered the ample out- 
lines of the Cornelias of the Commonwealth by the use of the Cossus.* 
The sultanas of the East, of those voluptuous lands where love seeks 
* The Goat-Moth Caterpillar. 
