ORTHOPTERA AFFECTING MAN — CAUDELL. 513 



Snail soup. 



Fried soles, witli wood louse sauce. 



Curried cockchafers. 



Fricasse of chicken with chrysalids. 



Boiled leg of mutton with wireworm sauce. 



Ducklings with green peas. 



Cauliflower garnished with caterpillars. 



Moths on toast. 



The above menu, of course, sounds absurd, but is a raw oyster 

 more attractive, gastronomically, than a well prepared locust? I 

 say " well prepared locust," for nothing favorable can be said of 

 illy prepared concoctions such as an unauthenticated account credits 

 certain Indians with using, that is, fatty juices dipped from de- 

 cayed masses of locusts and eaten as a salad. There is a justified 

 vagueness as to the details of this practice but such salads need not 

 be compared with the undoubtedly tasty and nutritious preparations 

 civilized man might enjoy could he only overcome prejudices and eat 

 insects. Chemical analysis shows locusts to possess a high nutritive 

 value,^ we have divine permission from the Bible to use them as 

 food,2 and they are admittedly tasty morsels, therefore why, indeed, 

 not eat them ? 



My final topic, Orthoptera directly affecting man's psychic nature 

 beneficially, is one of some importance. Man's aesthetic nature is 

 appealed to by the beauty of many forms, his music-loving soul is 

 soothed by their song and his sporting proclivities are gratified by 

 contests of strength and valor between pugnacious males of certain 

 species. 



As objects of beauty a considerable number of Orthoptera are 

 rivaled onl}^ by the most brilliantly colored butterflies. For exam- 

 ple, certain giant lobe-crested grasshoppers of South America have 

 the under wings brilliant with various hued tints, so blended as to 

 incite the admiration of the most stolid observer. Certain mantids 

 of the Old World are so constructed in form and color as to resem- 

 ble brightly colored orchids. There are also many Orthoptera of 

 more somber hues which are objects of admiration by reason of their 

 wonderful forms, some exhibiting a marvellous array of spines and 

 flanges, and others are so constructed as to perfectly mimic in form 

 or color certain objects, as bark, twigs, etc. Our common walking- 

 stick insect resembles, when at rest, the twigs among which it lives 

 so perfectly as to merit our appreciation. Still other Orthoptera, 

 which are neither brilliant in color nor striking in structure, are ob- 

 jects of interest by reason of their gracefulness of form or agility of 

 motion. 



1 Howard, 1st Kept. Locust Bur., p. 63-69 (1907). 



2 Leviticus, ch. 11, par. 22. 



