268 POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY. 



was the larva of a Beetle^ and considered a great luxury; 

 Grasshoppers are said to furnish nourishment to the Be- 

 douins ; Locusts are eaten in Africa, and the Brazilian tribes 

 are very fond of a species of Ant which has an agreeable 

 acid flavour. The honey of the Bee is mentioned as food 

 even in the earliest times, and is almost universally used at 

 the present day. Some insects are used medicinally ; the 

 Beetle employed in making blisters is one of the genus 

 Cantharis, or LyUa^ according to some authors, and other 

 insects have been used for the same purpose ; the Coccinella 

 (Lady-bird) is sometimes applied for toothache. Pormic 

 acid, obtained from Ants {Formicida:) , was formerly employed 

 as a volatile stimulant ; and galls, produced by the puncture 

 of many small Hymenopterous insects, have also their me- 

 dicinal properties. 



Our clothing is indebted to the Silkworm, whose cocoon 

 furnishes the raw silk, from which so many useful and 

 beautiful articles are manufactured. The genus Coccus pre-- 

 sents us with a brilliant red dye ; and we are indebted to 

 the gall-nut for one of the ingredients in ink: the true 

 gall-nut proceeds from the Cynips Gallce-tinctoria, which is 

 found in Asia Minor. 



It may interest some of my readers to have a slight idea 



