172 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 



which is the size of the thumb, has been long in request in both the Indies. 

 ^Elian speaks of an Indian king, who for a dessert, instead of fruit, set 

 before his Grecian guests a roasted worm taken from a plant, probably the 

 larva of this insect, which he says the Indians esteem very delicious a 

 character that was confirmed by some of the Greeks who tasted it. 1 Ma- 

 dame Merian has figured one of these larvae, and says that the natives of 

 Surinam roast and eat them as something very exquisite. 2 A friend of 

 mine, who has resided a good deal in the West Indies, where the palm grub 

 is called Grugru, informs me that the late Sir John La Forey, who was 

 somewhat of an epicure, was extremely fond of it when properly cooked. 



The larvae also of the larger species of the Capricorn tribe (Cerambyx L.; 

 Longicornes Latr.) are accounted very great delicacies in many countries ; 

 and the Cossus of Pliny, which he tells us the Roman epicures fattened 

 with flour 3 , most pr6bably belonged to this tribe. Linne indeed, following 

 the opinion of Ray 4 , supposes the caterpillar of the great goat-moth, the 

 anatomy of which has been so wonderfully traced by the eye and pencil of 

 the incomparable Lyonet, to be the Cossus. But there seems a strong 

 reason against this opinion ; for Linne's Cossus lives most commonly in 

 the willow, Pliny's in the oak ; and the former is a very disagreeable, ugly, 

 and fetid larva, not very likely to attract the Roman epicures. Probably 

 they were the larvae of Prionus corianus, which I have myself extracted from 

 the oak, or of one of its congeners. 5 The grub of P. damicornis, which 

 is of the thickness of a man's finger, is eaten at Surinam, in America, and 

 in the West Indies, both by whites and blacks, who empty, wash, and roast 

 them, and find them delicious. 6 Mr Hall informs me, that in Jamaica this 

 grub is called Macauco, and is in request at the principal tables. A simi- 

 lar insect is dressed at Mauritius under the name of Moutac, which the 

 whites as well as negroes eat greedily. 7 The larva of P. cervicornis, is, 

 according to Linne, held in equal estimation : and that of Acanthorinus 

 trlbulus, when roasted, forms an article of food in Africa. 8 It is probable 

 that all the species of this genus might be safely eaten, as well as many 

 other grubs of Coleoptera; and although I do not feel disposed to recom- 

 mend with Reaumur 9 , that the larvae of Oryctes nasicornis should be sought 

 for "dans les couches defumier" yet I think with Dr. Darwin 10 , that those 

 of the cockchafer which feed upon the roots of grass, or the perfect in- 

 sects themselves, which, if we may judge from the eagerness with which 

 cats, and turkeys and other birds, devour them, are no despicable bonne 



1 Jlian, Hist. 1. xiv. c. 13. ; quoted in Keaum. ii. 343. 



2 Ins. Sur. 48. 5 Hist. Nat. 1. xvii. c. 24. 



4 Wisdom of God, 9th ed. 307. Ray first adopted the opinion here maintained, 

 that the Cossi were the larvaa of some beetle ; but afterwards, from observing in 

 the caterpillar of Cossus ligniperda a power of retracting its prolegs within the body, 

 he conjectured that the hexapod larva from Jamaica (Prionus damicornis?), given 

 him by Sir Hans Sloane, might have the same faculty, and so be the caterpillar of a 

 Bombyx. 



5 Amoreux has collected the different opinions of entomologists on the subject of 

 Pliny's Cossus, which has been supposed to be the larva of Cordylia palmarum by 

 Geoffrey; of Lucanus cervus by Scopoli, and of Prionus damicornis by Drury. 

 The first and last, being neither natives of Italy, nor inhabiting the oak, are out of 

 the question. The larvae of Lucanus cervus and Prionus coriarius, which are found 

 in the oak as well as in other trees, may each have been eaten under this name, as 

 their difference would not be discernible either to collectors or cooks. Amoreux, 154. 



6 Merian, Ins. Sur. 24. 7 St. Pierre, Voy. 72. 8 Smeathman, 32. 

 9 Reaum. ii. 344. 10 Phytol 364. 



