214 INSECTS AND MAN 



time saw their secretion, which closely resembled honey in 

 appearance, and was known to the Arabs as "man." Accord- 

 ing to the latter authority, the manna insects, which are 

 now known to science as Gossyparia mannifera, infested 

 the smaller branches of Tamarix gallica in large numbers, 

 sucked up sap in quantity, and exuded manna in the form 

 of a sugary secretion which, in the cool of the evening, fell 

 to the ground in solid form, but, after sunrise, melted and 

 percolated into the soil. Little appears to be known con- 

 cerning this Coccid, for manna is a scale insect, like lac 

 and cochineal ; it is mainly of Biblical interest, for nowa- 

 days, at any rate, the secretion is not collected in sufficient 

 quantity to make it of any commercial value. 



The entomophagous habit, in modern times at any rate, 

 is probably closely connected with the abundance or other- 

 wise of more staple food. In countries or districts where 

 agriculture is practised the habit is either absent, or by no 

 means so prevalent as it is in places where man must per- 

 force rely on an abundant supply of game for his nutriment. 

 This is strikingly illustrated in North America, where the 

 aborigines were insect-eaters, whereas the Indians, living 

 east of the Mississippi, have never been entomophagous, the 

 reason being that agriculture was prevalent to the south 

 of the Great Lakes, and in other regions economic condi- 

 tions were regulated by the abundance of the game supply, 

 so that in times of famine attention was turned to insects 

 as food. 



INSECTS AND MEDICINE 



In the annals of quackery, rather than in the pages of 

 official pharmacopoeias, insect remedies figure most pro- 

 minently ; nevertheless, certain species have been pressed 

 into legitimate service from time to time, and they deserve 

 notice in a book dealing with the varied relations of insects 

 and man. 



Just as the Coleoptera, or beetles, supply a considerable 



