324 Useful Insects. 
to the grubs of this beetle, for he adds, that the Indians esteemed 
them very delicious, and that so, likewise, did these Grecians, 
who were prevailed on to taste them. — [JElian Hist.) In both 
the East and West Indies, these grubs are in great repute at the 
present day. Madame Merian, in her very faulty work on the 
insects of Surinam, tells us that the natives of that country roast 
these grubs, and then eat them with great enjoyment. — [Merian's 
Insects of Surinam.) Stedman relates that a Negro brought him a 
feast oi gru-gru, by which name these cabbage-palm grubs are 
known throughout the West Indies. " However disgusting they 
may be in appearance, these extremely fat grubs are," he declares, 
*'a delicious treat to many people, and they are regularly sold at 
Paramaribo. The manner of dressing them is by frying them in a 
very little butter and salt, or by spitting them on wooden skewers. 
In taste, they savor of all the Indian spices, as mace, cinnamon, 
cloves, nutmegs, &c. Several species of these grubs are produced 
in all the palm-trees,whenbeginningtorot, but some are larger than 
others; they have all, however, pale yellow bodies, with black 
heads." — [Stedman''s Surinam.) The Rev. Lansdown Guilding 
says the cabbage-palm grubs are eaten by a few persons in Suri- 
nam, that they are fried ili butter, and that the greedy epicure, 
holding the hard, horny head of the insect between his fingers, 
sucks out the fat entrails. — [Mag. of JYat. Hist.) Kirby and 
Spence were informed by a person who had long resided in the 
West Indies, that Sir John La Forey, who was somewhat of an 
epicure, was extremely fond of these grubs when properly cooked. 
(^Introduction to Entomology.) Mr. H. Marshall, deputy-inspec- 
tor of army hospitals, says that in British Guiana, where these grubs 
are called ducuma, or grugan, they are reckoned a great delicacy 
by the gourmands and wood-cutters, and are generally cooked in 
a frying-pan. Some, however, prefer them raw, and in that state 
they seize them by the black head, dip them in lime-juice, and 
then swallow them. — [Field JYafuralist.) Another traveller states 
that the palm-tree grubs are esteemed such great delicacies in one 
part of the world, that they are monopolized by the royal family 
and mandarins of the first distinction. "A present," says he, of 
about a dozen of these grubs was sent to us by the viceroy as a 
mark of great respect. We did not eat them, but gave them pri- 
vately to a woman, who was highly delighted with the delicacy 
that our fastidious taste rejected." The Rev, F. W. Hope says, 
"In Surinam, in America, (?) and in the West Indies, not only 
the black but the white inhabitants, wash and roast the grubs of 
the Ceramhyx damicornis, (each as thick as a man's finger,) and 
then eat them, and assert that they are delicious." — [Merian's 
Sur. Insects.) The adoption of the foregoing hints would soon 
have the good eflfect of lessening the numbers of these destructive 
insects. 
