BENEFICIAL INSECTS 209 



An Indian boy going after ' Cupim ' takes with him a 

 calabash or a bottle-basket, and searches about for a nest. 

 He then scrapes away some of the earth, and, taking a long 

 piece of grass, inserts it as far as it will go, and on with- 

 drawing it finds a row of ten or a dozen Termes holding 

 tightly on to it ; and he repeats this operation till he fills 

 his basket. These insects are also eaten alive or roasted ; 

 but in this case it is not the abdomen, but the enormous 

 head and thorax, which is devoured, as these parts contain 

 a considerable mass of muscular matter. These insects 

 have generally a bitter taste, and are not much esteemed 

 except by the Indians themselves." 



The " white ants," Termes arborum, Termes fatale, and 

 Termes smeathmanni, which, by the way, are not ants 

 at all, but are popularly misnamed, supplement the menu 

 in many an Indian and African home. One Hindu and 

 several African tribes eat both the termites and their eggs. 



oo 



In the lake regions of Central Africa the termite mounds 

 are a common feature of the landscape, and a welcome one, 

 too, to the natives, for, when they run short of tobacco, as 

 a substitute they chew the clay of these ant-hills, which 

 they call " sweet earth." The Hindus consider the female 

 " white ant " to be highly nutritious, and they used to be 

 eagerly sought for and forwarded to the debilitated Surjee 

 Rao, Chief of the Mahrattas. In the East Indies, old men 

 eat the queens alive, in order to strengthen their backs. 

 When the native boys of South Africa attain the age of 

 twelve to fourteen years, they are given a termite queen 

 to eat and then compelled to run more than two miles : 

 this procedure is supposed to endow them with wonderful 

 powers of resisting fatigue. Termites are also eaten by 

 the Australian natives. 



Next to the locusts, beetles appear to offer the greatest 

 variety of diet to those who appreciate insect food. ^Elian 

 says that the larva of the palm weevil, Calandra palmarum, 

 was considered an epicurean treat. The grubs are a dirty 



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