FROG-HOPPERS AND BEETLES 



26S 



Cicada. 



scraped off the leaves and eaten by the aborigines as a saccharine 

 dainty. 



The chiTpingCicadce, or frog-hoppers, which Aristotle mentions 

 as delicious food, though maccaroni has long supplanted them in 

 the estimation both of the modern Greeks and of the Italians, are 

 still in high repute among the American Indians. With the excep- 

 tion of one species {Cicada Anglica), 

 these insects, equally remarkable for 

 the rapidity of their flight and their 

 faculty of emitting a loud noise, are 

 unknown in our misty islands. Several 

 of the exotic species, when their wings 



are expanded, measure six inches in extreme length — a size, 

 superior to that of many of the humming-birds. 



The Chinese, who allow nothing edible to go to waste, after 

 unravelling the cocoon of the silk-worm, make a dish of the 

 pupae, which the Europeans reject with vscorn. 



In the chapter on Palms, I have already, mentioned that the 

 grubs of several insects which thrive 

 and increase in the Sago-tree, the 

 Areca, and the Cocoa, are considered 

 as great delicacies; and many similar 

 examples might be cited. 



The Groliath beetles of the coast 

 of Gruinea are roasted and eaten by 

 the natives, who doubtless, like many 

 other savages, not knowing the value 

 of that which they are eating, often 

 make a bonne houche of what an 

 entomologist would most eagerly de- 

 sire to preserve. 



Several of the more brilliant tropical beetles are made use of 

 as ornaments, not only by the savage tribes, but among nations 

 which are able to command the costliest gems of the East. The 

 golden elytra of the Sternocera chrysis and Sternocera sterni- 

 cornis serve to enrich the embroidery of the Indian zenana, 

 while the joints of the legs are strung on silken threads, and 

 form bracelets of singular brilliancy. 



The, ladies in Brazil wear necklaces composed of the azure 



i 



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Goiiath Beetle. 



