Rev. F. W. Hope's Ohservations, &ic. 129 



XIX. — Observations respecting various Insects which at dif- 

 ferent times have afforded Food to Man. By the Rev. 

 F. W. Hope, F.R.S. &c. 



[Read 4lh December, 1837.] 



I THINK it necessary to state at the commencement of this paper, 

 that I confine my inquiries at present solely to insects, passing 

 by the Crustacea.* It will, no doubt, after an investigation be 

 generally admitted, that insects in very early days were eaten as 

 an article of food ; as it may however be doubted by some indi- 

 viduals, it will be better to clear up this point before we enter 

 more minutely into the main object of our inquiry. 



Perhaps the earliest account we have of edible insects is that 

 which is mentioned by Moses, the Jewish lawgiver, where insects 

 are noticed in the catalogue of animals permitted for food, (vide 

 Lev. xi. -'^l, 22), " These ye may eat, the locust after his kind, and 

 the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and 

 the grasshopper after his kind." Without attempting at present 

 fully to explain this passage, which has afforded ample matter for 

 discussion to the commentator as well as the naturalist, I merely 

 remark in alluding to it, first, that at the time the above passage 

 was written, it may fairly be inferred that locusts had long been 

 eaten as food ; and secondly, that in defining the different kinds, 

 the object might be partly to deter the Jews from eating other 

 insects, which experience had proved to be injurious, while the 

 locusts, which were a wholesome food, might be eaten with im- 

 punity, and therefore were they more especially recommended to 

 notice. The next authority I have to advance in support of 

 insects eaten as food, is that of Herodotus, the father of history. 

 Speaking of the Nasamones he states, they regaled on locusts. 

 The translation of the passage is as follows : " They hunt for 

 locusts, which having dried in the sun, they reduce to powder and 

 eat, mingled with milk." vid. Herod. Melpomene, chap. 72. 



Diodorus Siculus also mentions a race of Ethiopians who were 

 so fond of eating this food, that they were called acridophagi, or 

 locust eaters (vid. lib. 24, ch. 3). Instead of bringing forward 

 at present a cloud of witnesses of ancient as well as modern 



* An account of the difterent edible species of Crustacea may at some future 

 period be added to the present, should such a memoir be thought worthy the 

 attention of the Society. 



