Useful Insects. 3S3 
ON USEFUL INSECTS AND THEIR PRODUCTS. 
EY JAMES H. FENNELL. 
Though insects far exceed, in the number of species every 
other class of animals, yet comparatively few species of this class 
are turned to any useful account in the arts, manufactures, and do- 
mestic economy. We must not, however, conclude from this cir- 
cumstance, that the thousands of species that are never used by 
man are therefore destitute of any properties that might be advan- 
tageous to him. When the manufacturing portion of the people 
shall have acquired a more extensive knowledge of the various 
properties and secretions of insects which entomologists have 
already noticed and recorded, then, perhaps, a greater number of 
species will be recognized as useful. Linneus observes that "the 
man who shall take delight in studying insects, may have his labor 
rewarded by the discovery of a more grateful sweet than honey, 
a stronger thread than that of common silk, a more glowing crim- 
son than that of cochineal; but he will require patience, perse- 
verance, and repeated observation." Admitting that the number 
of species that are rendered useful is comparatively small, yet I 
doubt not that I shall be able to show that it exceeds what most 
persons would suppose. 
To render the subject more clear and intelligible, and also for 
the sake of convenience, I shall arrange my examples according to 
the classification of the species to be cited, and not according to 
the nature of their services. 
1st. Coleoptera. — In this order, consisting entirely of beetles, 
are many that contribute to the necessities and some to the vani- 
ties of man. The larva, or grubs, of various species, are eaten in 
different parts of the world; and those who eat them assure us 
that they equal in excellence the best dishes that are enu- 
merated in our cookery books. The grubs of all the African 
beetles that feed upon decayed wood, Smeathman affirms to 
be rich and delicate eating; and every traveller might, there- 
fore, get plenty of this wholesome nourishment, did he but 
know where to seek it. In the cavity formed in the stem of the 
cabbage palm, owing to the removal of its cabbage-like produce, 
the palm-weevil [Calandra, or Cordylia palinarum) deposit her 
eggs, and the grubs which are hatched from these are eaten as 
great delicacies. These grubs are also found in some places, de- 
vouring the terminal buds of cocoa trees. Each of these grubs 
has a black head, and when fully grown is about as large as the 
thumlD — that is to say, from two to three inches in length, and 
three quarters of an inch in diameter. /Elian mentions an Indian 
king who sat before his Grecian guests some roasted worms taken 
from a plant; but there can be no doubt that the historian alludes 
