204 INSECTS AND MAN 



of luxury was an immense dish of pulverised ants, grass- 

 hoppers, and locusts, that had been dried in the sun. 

 The same author and traveller says that the Shoshone 

 relished grasshoppers and crickets, and that they stored up 

 bags of roasted ants for future consumption ; in this respect 

 they resembled another tribe, the Soshocs, who were 

 described as miserable, lean, weak, and badly clothed. 

 Their territory abounded in artemisia, a herb much 

 favoured by grasshoppers. A large deep hole was dug in 

 the earth by the Soshocs, who then formed themselves 

 into a ring round the excavation, but at a considerable 

 distance from it, and gradually converged towards it, beating 

 the ground as they went, with the object of driving the 

 insects into the pit, when they were collected and eaten, 

 either as soup, or boiled and made into a paste for future 

 use. The Maidu, a Calif ornian tribe, also relished locusts 

 and grasshoppers. 



The literature on the subject is meagre in the extreme, 

 but there is little reason to doubt that locusts have been 

 prominent items in the bills of fare of many races from 

 time immemorial. Grasshoppers were eaten by the ancient 

 Greeks, whilst, to the natives of Uganda, the allied crickets, 

 Curtilla africana and Acheta bimaculata, have a double 

 use, being kept in warm ovens, on account of their musical 

 note, to induce sleep, and, presumably, when the pangs of 

 hunger outweigh the discomforts of insomnia, they are used 

 as food. Dried locusts are said to be a common ingredient 

 of Indian curries, even in Calcutta. 



" In some parts of Italy the cricket is looked upon with 

 love and almost veneration. In the city of Florence, on 

 Ascension morning, the pedlars throng the streets with 

 crickets in little painted cages, selling them at from two to 

 five cents, and the air resounds with their cries, as well as 

 those of the captives. You must pick your cricket with care, 

 for his singing powers, or want of them, will decide your 

 destiny for the coming year. An active bright singer 



