Insects that have afforded Food to Man. 143 



3. Cossus ligniperda. 



Two celebrated naturalists, Ray and Linnaeus, suppose the 

 caterpillar oi" Cossits ligniperda, to be the identical Cossus which, 

 in Pliny's time, delighted the Roman epicures. 



4. Bombyx mori. 



The Chinese, when they have unwound the cocoons of the 

 celebrated silk-worm moth, serve up the chrysalides at table, 

 taking care to retain a sufficient number for propagating the 

 species. Tachsius informs us also, that the Bomhyces were eaten 

 as food ;* while Schroeder says, that they were dried or reduced 

 to powder, and administered as medicine, in order to cure vertigo 

 and convulsions, vid. Pharmacop. Medico-Chym. lib. v. p. 883. 

 I add another authority, in corroboration of the above remarks. 

 Mr, Favand, a missionary in China, states, that during his long 

 residence in that country, " he has often seen the chrysalides of 

 silk-worms used as food. He has himself partaken of them, and 

 found them at once strengthening and cooling. After having 

 wound the silk off the cocoons, they are dried in the fryingpan, 

 when the envelop will come off, and they appear like yellow 

 masses, resembling the eggs of carp. They are fried in butter, 

 lard, or oil, and moistened with broth. When they have been 

 boiled in this for five minutes, they are stirred well, and crushed 

 with a wooden spoon. The Mandarins and rich people add the 

 yolk of eggs, in the proportion of one yolk to a hundred chry- 

 salides. The poorer people are contented with salt, pepper, and 

 vinegar, or, after stripping them, in cooking them with oil." 



5. Nycterobius MacLeayii. 



The natives of Australia eat the caterpillars of a singular spe- 

 cies of moth, which are taken at night while feeding. The name 

 of Nycterobius has been given to it by Mr. William Sharpe 

 MacLeay. 



6. Eiiplcea hamata. 



The Aborigines of Australia congregate together in the months 

 of November, December, and January, in order to collect a spe- 

 cies of moth which they call Bugong. The bodies of these 



* " Non vestimentis modo, sedet aliis, Bombyces inservireusibas, certissimum. 

 Pro cibo nonnullis fuisse Sachseus Gammarol. lib. 1, tradidit, et vivos eos virum 

 quendam sanitatis ergo deglutuisse letulis Borellus, Hist, et Obser. Var. Medico- 

 Phys. Cent. 3." 



