104 UTILIZATION OF MINUTE LIFE. 



Aranea edulis, a large spider, is relished by the 

 natives of New Caledonia this spider is about an 

 inch long ; it is roasted over the fire. 



Humboldt has seen Indian children drag from 

 the earth centipedes eighteen inches long (probably 

 Spirostreptus olivaceus or S. indus ?), and more 

 than half an inch broad, and devour them. 



The same author also speaks of the Agautle of 

 the Mexicans, an aliment formed exclusively of the 

 eggs of certain species of the boat-fly, Notonecta. 

 These eggs also contribute to the formation of a 

 certain oolitic rock that is being deposited in the 

 great lakes of Mexico, whence M. Yirlet d'Aoust 

 and other geologists conclude that the oolitic 

 strata of the Jura, etc., must have had a similar 

 origin. 



The Mexicans consume great quantities of these 

 eggs : they find them strewed by thousands upon 

 the reeds on the banks of the great fresh-water 

 lakes, Texcocco and Chalco. They shake them into 

 a cloth, and set them to dry, after which they are 

 ground like flour, placed in sacks, and sold to the 

 inhabitants, who make with this flour a peculiar kind 

 of cake called liaulte. The unground eggs are also 

 used to feed chickens, etc.* 



* M. d'Aoust, on Lis return from Mexico, gave me some of 

 these eggs in 1858 ; they are very small, oval and white ; but I have 

 not yet submitted them to analysis. 



