448 ANIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



the Eastern trade. The improved means of preserving 

 such products in a commercial form in tins or bottles, as 

 well as the old-fashioned method of sun-drying, however, 

 suggest the possibility of opening up quite a new 

 market in America and in Europe. A soup made of 

 Beche-de-mer is extremely nutritious and very palatable, 

 and if introduced in an attractive form, and under a 

 taking name, might prove a formidable rival to the 

 time-honoured turtle. Even if England should prove 

 sceptical, France would in all probability welcome this 

 addition to her list of food delicacies. 



Worms. — There is a minute American variety of leech 

 which attaches itself to the native mollusks ; they are 

 eaten alive in large numbers by the hard-clam lovers. 

 Mr. A. W. Roberts says he had a mess of these leeches 

 collected and cooked, and found them very palatable, 

 and of the flavour of the highly prized little neck 

 clams, from which brand they had been taken. The 

 Chinese regularly eat both marine and fresh-water 

 leeches. * The leech was one of the forbidden meats of 

 the Jews. 



The Pall Mall Gazette gravely reports that a group 

 of French gourmets have tested the edible qualities of 

 the common earth-worm, whose agricultural services 

 have been recently demonstrated. 



" Fifty guests were present at the experiment. The 

 worms, apparently lob-worms, were first put into 

 vinegar, by which process they were made to disgorge 

 the vegetable mould. They were then rolled in batter 

 and put into an oven, where they acquired a delightful 

 golden tint, and, we are assured, a most appetising smell. 

 After the first plateful the fifty guests rose like one man 

 and asked for more. Could anything be more con- 

 vincing ? Those who love snails, they add, will 

 abandon them for ever in favour of worms." 



* " Scientific American." 



