206 INSECTS AND MAN 



resemble a substantial prawn. The exact identity of this 

 favoured insect is subject to some doubt. By many it is 

 thought to be the larva of the goat moth, Cossus ligniperda ; 

 and as a mature and well-fed goat moth caterpillar agrees 

 closely with Pliny's description, there seems little reason 

 in trying to establish the claims of other insects. It is 

 highly probable that the taste for this dish was an acquired 

 one. To most people the idea of eating an insect is, in it- 

 self, sufficiently repulsive ; to those who have handled Cossus 

 ligniperda the act is unthinkable. The grub has none 

 of the beauty possessed by many caterpillars ; but its for- 

 bidding appearance is as nothing to its foul odour, resem- 

 bling, as it does, the well-known scent of the billy goat, 

 hence the name goat moth. Whether its taste is akin to 

 its smell, probably few can tell, but the insect is not one 

 to inspire confidence in the heart of a neophyte in 

 gastronomic research. By some it is thought that the 

 Cossus of Pliny was the larva of a stag beetle, Lucanus 

 cervus, or of a Longicorn beetle, Prionus coriarius, though 

 with what reason is hardly apparent. At the present time, 

 caterpillars of various kinds are consumed, in quantity, by 

 the Pai-Ute-Indians. The collection of these larvae and 

 their preparation for food is an industry of very con- 

 siderable importance along the Nevada-California line. 



The Bushmen of Africa eat the caterpillars of butterflies 

 to some extent, and the natives of Australia a species of 

 moth called bugong, which at certain seasons is found 

 in the greatest abundance in some localities. Regarding 

 the bugong moth, Agrotis infusa, a correspondent of the 

 Agricultural Gazette, New South Wales, who has actually 

 seen the natives devouring the insects, says : " These moths 

 reside in the great fissures in the granite rocks, right on 

 the top of the peaks of the Bugong Mountain, and their 

 numbers are as the sands of the seashore. The moths are 

 a dark yellowish brown or brownish yellow, about an inch 

 long, and very plump and fat in the body, and when 



