172 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 
which is the size of the thumb, has been long in request in both the Indies, 
ZBlian speaks of an Indian king, who for a dessert, instead of fruit, set 
‘before his Grecian guests a roasted worm taken from a plant, probably the 
larva of this insect, which he says the Indians esteem very delicious —a 
‘character that was confirmed by some of the Greeks who tasted it. Ma- 
dame Merian has figured one of these larve, and says that the natives of 
Surinam roast and eat them as something very exquisite.? A friend of 
mine, who has resided a good deal in the West Indies, where the palm grub 
is called Grugru, informs me that the late Sir John La Forey, who was 
somewhat of an epicure, was extremely fond of it when properly cooked. 
The larve also of the larger species of the capricorn tribe (Cerambyw L.; 
Longicornes Latr.) ave accounted very great delicacies in many countries ; 
and the Cossus of Pliny, which he tells us the Roman epicures fattened 
with flour’, most probably belonged to this tribe. Linné indeed, following 
the opinion of Ray‘, supposes the caterpillar of the great goat-moth, the 
anatomy of which has been so wonderfully traced by the eye and pencil of 
the incomparable Lyonet, to be the Cossus. But there seems a strong 
reason against this opinion; for Linné’s Cossus lives most commonly in 
the willow, Pliny’s in the oak ; and the former is a very disagreeable, ugly, 
and fetid larva, not very likely to attract the Roman epicures. Probably 
they were the larvae of Prionus coriarius, which I have myself extracted from 
the oak, or of one of its congeners.’ The grub of P. damicornis, which 
is of the thickness of a man’s finger, is eaten at Surinam, in America, and 
in the West Indies, both by whites and blacks, who empty, wash, and roast 
them, and find them delicious.® Mr Hall informs me, that in Jamaica this 
grub is called Macauco, and is in request at the principal tables. A simi- 
lar insect is dressed at Mauritius under the name of Moutac, which the 
whites as well as negroes eat greedily.? The larva of P. cervicornis, is, 
according to Linné, held in equal estimation: and that of Acanthocinus 
tribulus, when roasted, forms an article of food in Africa.® It is probable 
that all the species of this genus might be safely eaten, as well as many 
other grubs of Coleoptera; and although I do not feel disposed to recom- 
mend with Reaumur®, that the larvae of Oryctes nasicornis should be sought 
for “dans les couches de fumier,” yet I think with Dr. Darwin”, that those 
of the cockchafer which feed upon the roots of grass, or the perfect in- 
sects themselves, which, if we may judge from the eagerness with which 
eats, and turkeys and other birds, devour them, are no despicable bonne 
1 Milian, Hist. 1. xiv. c. 13.; quoted in Reaum. ii. 343. 
2 Ins: Sur. 48. 5 Hist. Nat. 1. xvii. c. 24. 
4 Wisdom of God, 9th ed. 307. Ray first adopted the opinion here maintained, 
that the Cossi were the larvae of some beetle; but afterwards, from observing in 
the caterpillar of Cossus ligniperda a power of retracting its prolegs within the body, 
he conjectured that the hexapod larva from Jamaica (Prionus damicornis?), given 
a i Sir Hans Sloane, might have the same faculty, and so be the caterpillar of a 
ombyx, 
5 Amoreux has collected the different opinions of entomologists on the subject of 
Pliny’s Cossus, which has been supposed to be the larva of Cordylia palmarum by 
Geoffroy; of Lucanus cervus by Scopoli, and of Prionus damicornis by Drury. 
The first and last, being neither natives of Italy, nor inhabiting the oak, are out of 
the question. The larve of Lucanus cervus and Prionus coriarius, which are found 
in the oak as well as in other trees, may each have been eaten under this name, as 
their difference would not be discernible either to collectors or cooks. — Amoreux, 154, 
© Merian, Jns. Sur, 24, 7 St. Pierre, Voy. 72. 8 Smeathman, 82, 
9 Reaum., ii. 844, 10 Phytol, 364. 
