CELLAR BEETLES AND MEAL WORMS 45 



known to eject from its body a caustic secretion, and 

 some other allied insects cover themselves with a similar 

 substance. Now, if our mealworms, &c., have properties 

 at all analogous to those of Spanish Fly, this internal 

 application of cantharides, even in homoeopathic doses, 

 might not, perhaps, be altogether desirable. Some, 

 too, have supposed! the celebrated corn-weevils to be 

 prejudicial to health when in a comminuted state. 



Flour is not the only article of food that is liable to 

 adulteration in this way. Curtis, in his " Farm Insects," 

 has the following uncomfortable and suggestive passage : 

 "I have known bushels of cocoa-nuts (i.e., of course, 

 cacao) which were, every one, worm-eaten and full of 

 maggots, with their webs, excrement, cast-off skins, 

 pupae, and cocoons all ground down to make chocolate, 

 flavoured, 'I suppose, with Vanilla." 



