354 ANIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



fat, or at least sucks it up ; and when they are done 

 enough, they are served up with orange juice. They 

 are highly esteemed by the French, as excellent eating." 



The large caterpillars of a beetle {Cerambyx cervi- 

 cornis ?) commonly called " Macaccas," are eagerly sought 

 for in the decayed timber of trees in the West Indies, 

 and considered a great delicacy. They are nearly three 

 and a half inches long, and about the thickness of a 

 man's little finger. The body is of a white colour, and 

 sustains a small brown head, which is generally cut oif 

 when they are used. They are always gutted, opened, 

 and washed before they are dressed ; and when well 

 fried are thought by many people to be one of the 

 greatest delicacies in America.* 



The Malagasy eat, fried in oil, various kinds of white 

 fat caterpillars without hair. 



The larva of the Calandra palmarum is considered a 

 great delicacy by the inhabitants of South America, so 

 is that of the Vurculio palmarum, found principally in 

 the South of India, where it feeds on the pith of the 

 sago palm. The gum grub, or gru-gru, is by some 

 Australian gastronomists considered a great dainty, and 

 similar to fine marrow, when fried with bread crumbs ; 

 the natives, however, prefer it raw. The insect is about 

 six inches long and half an inch in diameter. When in 

 season the natives grow fat by feeding on them.^I- 



Two insects, the Bugong moth, a kind of butterfly, 

 and a thick, white grub, found chiefly in dead timber, 

 are much esteemed by the aborigines of Australia as 

 articles of food. The former is eaten at certain seasons 

 by whole tribes of natives in the northern districts. 

 Their practice is to follow up the flight of the insects 

 and to light fires at nightfall beneath the trees on which 

 they have settled. The smoke brings the butterflies 

 down, and their bodies are pounded together into a sort 



* Browne's " Natural History of Jamaica." 

 + Ogle's " Western Australia," p. 256. See also Bennett's " New 

 South Wales," p. 270 ; and Buckton, p. 97. 



