EEYIEWS. 
81 
INSECTS ABROAD.* 
E have had various occasions of wondering at the marvellous industry 
which is exhibited by the author of the book before us ; and we have 
had reason once or twice to condemn the tendency we saw displayed as 
approaching too nearly that of the mere book-maker. However, “ Homes 
without Hands ” and some other works served to increase our respect for 
the most popular natural history writer in our country ; and we confess that 
on examining the present volume we are bound to say that in most re- 
spects it is a work which will add to its author’s fame ; it is also a most 
popular book, and its illustrations, which are of two kinds, plates and 
woodcuts, are most numerous, and lack nothing either in artistic worth or 
biologic excellence. The page-plates are twenty in number, and are most 
attractively drawn and scientifically correct, while the woodcuts, which 
are over 500 in number, are almost on every page of the work. Of course 
the insects described are all foreign, but they are of vastly more interest 
even than one whose taste is not for natural history would imagine. Let 
us see for a moment how the various groups are of importance as food. 
Bees of course furnish honey, but many of them are themselves eaten in a 
grub state in many countries, while bee-bread, as well as several wasps, are 
not considered unworthy food. Locusts, again, form food for various races, 
not only of man, but of beasts, birds, and reptiles. There is an article of 
diet among the Australian natives termed the u Bugong moth,” and dragon- 
flies are also used by the same people. In Europe the wood-ant is used in 
the manufacture of vinegar, and also in the South of France is transformed 
into a certain sort of cream, called creme aux fourmis. Mosquitos are pre- 
pared as a sort of cake, called kungo , among the inhabitants of Nyassa lake, 
and the gru-gru grub of the West Indies is considered by those who have 
once tasted it (it is eaten alive) a most delicious morsel ; a not less curious 
article of food is the egg of an insect which inhabits the fresh waters of 
Mexico, and which is made into cakes under the name of hcioutle ; while, 
lastly, there are the better-known instances of the blister-beetle, the 
cochineal insect, and the well-known manufacturer of “ lac.” 
The classes of insecta which Mr. Wood adopts are the Coleoptera, Der- 
moptera, Orthoptera, Thysanoptera, Neuroptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidop- 
tera, Hemiptera, Homoptera, and the Diptera, under each of which he gives 
ample instances of wondrous peculiarities of structure and habits, but it 
i3 more especially the case with the two groups of bees and beetles. From 
these, if space permitted us, we might select quotations almost without 
end, for the author not only gives his own account of each group, but 
supplements it with varied quotations from the works of the better-known 
authorities. However, there is one quotation — the last in this very 
interesting volume — to which we w r ould take some exception ; and we are 
the more sorry for this as it is a statement made by a brother of the author. 
It is as regards the well-known chigoe, or pule. v penetrans. The gentleman 
* u Insects Abroad ; being a Popular Account of Foreign Insects, their 
Structure, Habits, and Transformations.” By the Rev. J. G. Wood, M.A., 
F.L.S. London: Longmans, 1874. 
YOL. XIY. NO. LIY. 
Gr 
