DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 255 



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 Linne's Cossus lives most commonly in the 

 willow, Pliny's in the oak; and the former is a very dis- 

 agreeable, ugly, and fetid larva, not very likely to attract 

 the Roman epicures. Probably they were the larvas 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 similar 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, ac- 

 cording to Linne, 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 Cole- 

 optera ; and although I do not feel disposed to recommend 

 with Reaumur ^, that the larvas of Oryctes nasicornis should 

 be sought for " dans les conches de fumier^^ yet I think with 

 Dr. Darwin ^, that those of the cockchafer which feed upon 

 the roots of grass, or the perfect insects themselves, which, if 

 we may judge from the eagerness with which cats, and 

 turkeys and other birds, devour them, are no despicable 

 bonne louche, might be added to our entremets. This would 

 be one means of keeping down the numbers of these occa- 

 sionally destructive animals. The Mexican Indians, accord- 

 ing to M. Yasselet and Madame Salle and her son, who have 



1 Amoreux has collected the different opinions of entomologists on the sub- 

 ject of Pliny's Cossus, which has been supposed to be the larva of Cordylia pal- 

 marum by Geoffroy ; of Lucanm 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 larvee 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. 



2 Merian, Lis, Sur. 24. 3 St. Pierre, Fby. 72. 4 Smeathman, 32. 

 5 Reaum. ii. 344. c PhT/toL 364. 



