INSECTS GOOD TO EAT. 75 



tion, having already cooked my grubs ; but 

 this was last year, and Mr. Vincent Holt had 

 not then enlightened me, therefore it never 

 once occurred to me that the next best thing 

 for me to do was to eat them ! Had I done 

 so, I might have been ahead of Mr. Holt in 

 springing a new delight upon the jaded appe- 

 tite of the epicurean world. Like " that great 

 lubberly boy, Bobo," the first who ever tasted 

 " crackling," unable to restrain my delight at 

 the savoury dish I had discovered, I might 

 have been found rushing round my garden 

 and my neighbours', seeking and picking all 

 the grubs I could find ! 



Of all the " insects that are good to eat," I 

 have the assurance of Mr. Holt that " the 

 sawfly" (which, in its larval stage, is the 

 hitherto despised creature that plays such 

 havoc amongst the gooseberry bushes) is one 

 of the " nicest to eat ! " I shall bear this in 

 mind ! 



Amongst the other insects strongly recom- 

 mended by Mr. Holt as good for food are 

 bees and wasps. 



" From bees," he says, " we already derive 

 a delicious sweet in the form of golden honey. 

 From wasps we might, if we chose, derive an 

 equally delicious savoury. What disciple of 

 Izaak Walton, when he has been all the 



