212 INSECTS AND MAN 



The cicada, described in another part of this book, has 

 long been esteemed as an article of food in America, though 

 its periodical occurrence is too infrequent to make it of 

 any real value. The Eev. Andrew Sandel, of Philadelphia, 

 first drew attention, in 1795, to the fact that these insects 

 were eaten by the Indians ; whilst, at a later date, another 

 authority corroborated this and stated that "the Indians 

 make the different species of cicada an article of diet, 

 every year gathering quantities of them and preparing 

 them for the table by roasting in a hot oven, stirring them 

 until they are well browned." In 1885, Dr Howard, 

 Chief of the American Bureau of Entomology, and 

 Professor Biley made some experiments on the use of 

 these insects as food. When writing his experiences later, 

 Dr Howard said : " With the aid of the Doctor's (Riley's) 

 cook he had prepared a plain stew, a thick milk stew, 

 and a broil. The cicadas were collected just as they 

 emerged from pupae, and were thrown into cold water, 

 in which they remained one night. They were cooked 

 the next morning and served at breakfast time. They 

 imparted a distinct and not unpleasant flavour to the 

 stew, but were not at all palatable themselves, as they were 

 reduced to nothing but bits of flabby skin. The broil 

 lacked substance. The most palatable method of cooking 

 is to fry in butter, when they remind one of shrimps. 

 They will never prove a delicacy." Dr Hildreth, writing 

 in 1830, said that when the cicadas first leave the earth 

 they are so plump and full of oily juices that they are 

 used in making soap. 



Non-aquatic bugs, with the exception of the cicada, 

 do not appear to be highly favoured as articles of food, 

 but a large species, Aspongopus nepalensis, is eaten with 

 rice in Assam, and still more curious fare hails from 

 Nyasaland, in the shape of " Kungu," a paste composed 

 of mayflies (Gcenis kungu) and mosquitoes (Culicidce). 



Bees are rarely eaten, the big jungle bee of India, 



