270 THE BUTTERFLY VIVARIUM. 



neal-insect are cited as but beginnings. The follow- 

 ing are a few of the instances cited by different 

 authors of the uses to which insects have been put 

 in various countries. 



The larva of the Cossus was fed on flour by 

 the Romans, and fatted to an enormous size, as 

 a delicacy for the tables of the wealthy senators of 

 the eternal city. Livingstone describes many kinds 

 of larvce which are eaten with extraordinary relish 

 by the native negro races; and our own English 

 colonists of Demerara, as I am informed by a 

 friend who has partaken of the luxury, have 

 learnt to consider the larva of large tropical Beetles 

 a most delicious dish. These facts may shock the 

 delicate sensibilities of many unaccustomed to such 

 fare, and yet one would think that Shrimp-eaters, 

 and, still more, Oyster-eaters, need not feel asto- 

 nished even at the Chinese eaters of stewed Silk- 

 worm chrysalides, or at Arabian Locust-eaters. 



Insects once formed a class of medicines which 

 were considered highly effective in certain cases; 

 and there Avas a time Avhen three Gnats were taken 

 as a dose, just as three grains of calomel might be 

 taken now ; while three drops of Lady-bird milk 

 were formerly prescribed as seriously as a small dose 

 of some fashionable medicine of the present day. 



