132 Rev. F. W. Hope's Observations resjiecting 



gus Pirn: tlie author's name I have unfortunately omitted to 

 transcribe. 



Anophlognathus viridiceneus. 



Mr. William Sharpe Mac Leay has stated, in the " Horse Ento- 

 mologicse," that he is inclined to think that the larvae of Anophlog- 

 nath'idce are the grubs which the New Hollanders use as an article 

 of food ;* in corroboration of this opinion, I can add the testi- 

 mony of an individual who resided some years back in different 

 parts of Australia, who assured me that the white grubs -j- which 

 are eaten turned into golden beetles, and pointed them out in the 

 box of insects which he had to dispose of. The species alluded 

 to was Anophlognathus viridiceneus, and there can be little doubt 

 that the white grubs of various other species are often mistaken 

 for them and eaten. Should this opinion be further substantiated, 

 and the food prove palateable and wholesome, the settler, from 

 policy, should patronize as food these dainties which are so 

 highly prized by the wild Australian, and thereby secure the 

 crops of future years by feeding on the insects capable of destroy- 

 ing them ; and certainly no reason can be adduced why the grubs 

 of New Holland may not rival in delicacy the palm-worm of the 

 Eastern world, or the cossus of Europe, which the Roman epicure, 

 in the days of Pliny, so highly esteemed. 



Oryctes Owariensis. 



Another insect which is eaten at the present day is a species of 

 Oryctes, named Owariensis by Palisot Beauvois. It is eaten by 

 the nations inhabiting Cape Coast, and there can be little doubt 

 that many other species of this genus, as well as of Xylotrujies, 

 may be eaten with impunity. It is not improbable that Reaumur 

 was aware of a species of Oryctes being eaten by the Africans, 

 since he recommends the larvae of Oryctes Nasicornis of Europe 

 to especial notice. My gallant friend, Captain Downes, a resi- 

 dent some years at Fernando Po, who, although unable to specify 

 the insect, mentions that at Sierra Leone the natives roasted and 

 ate a palm-tree worm. He informs me also, that beetles and their 

 larvae are eaten on various parts of the western coast of Africa. 



* Mr. Cunningham states, " Our wood grub is a long soft thick worm, 

 much relished by the natives, who have a wonderful tact in knowing what part 

 of the tree to dig into for it, when tliey quickly pull it out, and gobble it up with 

 as much relish as an English epicure would an oyster." 



f Vide Two Years in New South Wales, by P. Cunningham, vol. i. p. 329. 



