THEIR RELATION TO MAN 197 



It has even been suggested that there is no reason why 

 they should not be retained on our modern bills of fare, 

 and experiments have been made in different methods 

 of preparation. Fried they are said to have a sweet, 

 nutty flavor, while in a stew with milk they recall 

 oysters. It must be confessed that no very great en- 

 thusiasm has ever been developed for this kind of diet, 

 and on the whole the use of grasshoppers for food pur- 

 poses is distinctly on the wane. 



In South America a species of water bug of the Corioca 

 series occurs in great abundance in some localities and 

 lays its eggs in large numbers on the surface among the 

 sedges. These eggs are gathered, dried and preserved by 

 the natives, who mash and bake them into a cake that 

 is much appreciated. Inasmuch as the eggs have a very 

 decided bed-buggy odor, it would require considerable 

 education to make that sort of omelet popular. 



The large boring larvse of Coleoptera and even some 

 Lepidoptera are not unusual articles of food in tropical 

 countries, and ants or ant larvae and pupae have also 

 served as sources of food supply to uncivilized man; 

 but as civilization tends to eliminate the insects in its 

 advance, their decreased numbers would render them 

 less available as sources of supply even were better or 

 more usual articles not more plentiful. 



Galls as sources of supply for tannic acid are still 

 gathered in some localities, and some forests are com- 

 mercially profitable as gall producers. When inks were 

 largely dependent upon galls for their black color, there 

 was a greater demand for them than now, when chem- 

 istry supplies other if not better sources of more or less 

 permanent black stains. 



Insects have from time to time served as ingredients 

 in medicaments ; but very few are so used at the present 

 time. Of these the Cantharides or blister beetles are 



