74 GALERUCIDiE — TURNIP- FLY, ETC. 



Sir Hans Sloane tells us the Indians of Jamaica boil them 

 in their sou])s, pottages, olios, and pepper-pots, and account 

 them of delicious flavor, much like, but preferable to, mar- 

 row; and the negroes of this island roast them slightly at 

 the fire, and eat them with bread. ^ 



A similar larva is dressed at Mauritius under the name of 

 Moulac, which the whites as well as the negroes eat greedily."^ 

 According to Linnaeus, the larva of the Frionus cermcor- 

 nis is held in equal estimation ; and that of the Acanlhoci- 

 nus tribulus when roasted forms an article of food in 

 Africa.^ 



The Cossus of Pliny belonged most probably to this 

 tribe, or to the Lucanidae. 



Wanley knew a nun in the monastery of St. Clare, who 

 at the sight of a beetle was affected in the following strange 

 manner. It happened that some young girls, knowing her 

 disposition, threw a beetle into her bosom, which when she 

 perceived, she immediately fell into a swoon, deprived of all 

 sense, and remained four hours in cold sweats. She did not 

 regain her strength for many days after, but continued trem- 

 bling and pale.* 



Galerucidse — Turnip-fly, etc. 



The striped Turnip-beetle, Haltica nemorum, com- 

 monly called the Turnip-fly, Turnip flea, Earth flea- 

 beetle, Blackjack, etc., is a well known species from the 

 ravages the perfect insect commits upon the turnip. In 

 Devonshire, England, in the year 1786, the loss caused by 

 these insects alone was valued at £100,000 sterling. And 

 in the spring of 1837, the vines in the neighborhood of 

 Montpellier were attacked to so great an extent by another 

 species, Haltica oleracea, m the perfect state, that fears 

 were entertained for the plants, and religious processions 

 were instituted for the purpose of exorcising the insects.^ 



1 Hist, of Jamaica, ii. 193-4. 



2 *S'/. Pierre, Vuy , 72. 



3 Smeatham, 32. Kirb. and Sp. Introd., i. 303. 

 * Wonders, i. 18. 



6 Curtis, Farm Ins., p. 22. Baird's Cyclop, of Nat. Sci. 



