PSYCHE 
VOL. XXXVII MARCH, 1930 
No. 1 
THE FOOD OF INSECTS VIEWED FROM THE 
BIOLOGICAL AND HUMAN STANDPOINT * 
By Charles T. Brues 
Our present-day views concerning human food and nu- 
trition are in such a state of active revolution, that it may 
seem futile to discuss the food of insects on the basis of the 
fragmentary knowledge we possess concerning these small 
animals. I have avoided the term nutrition, however, since 
food relates to actual materials and does not necessarily 
introduce chemical and physiological connotations. It is, 
therefore, clear that “entomological chop suey” might more 
adequately, if less elegantly, express the content of my sub- 
ject matter, provided, of course, that we first Separate and 
accurately identify all the disguised components of this 
delicacy. This separation, and identification of insect food- 
stuffs has, as a matter of fact, been rather thoroughly done 
by entomologists and affords the basis for an understanding 
of at least some of the principles that underlie the trophic 
behavior of insects. 
That these peculiarities have determined to a great extent 
the evolution and differentiation of insects is very clear, 
and as I hope to indicate later we must also attribute to 
them a very important role among the many factors that 
have directed the course of organic evolution since the time 
when insects became a dominant figure in the living world. 
The most striking feature of the diet of insects is the 
high degree of specificity which exists in the selection of 
Presented by the retiring president at the annual meeting of the 
Entomological Society of America at Des Moines, Iowa, Dec. 28, 1929. 
Contribution from the Entomological Laboratory of the Bussey Insti- 
tution, Harvard Uuiversity, No. 331. 
