ANIMAL  BREAD  OF  THE  MEXICANS. 
75 
According  to  M.  Craveri,  by  whom  some  of  the  Mexican 
bread,  and  of  the  insects  yielding  it,  were  brought  to  Europe, 
these  insects  and  their  eggs  are  very  common  in  the  fresh  waters 
of  the  lagunes  of  Mexico.  The  natives  cultivate  in  the  lagune 
of  Chalco,  a  sort  of  carex  called  toule,  on  which  the  insects 
readily  deposit  their  eggs.  Numerous  bundles  of  these  plants 
are  made,  which  are  taken  to  a  lagune,  the  Tescuco,  where  they 
float  in  great  numbers  on  the  water.  The  insects  soon  come  and 
deposit  their  eggs  on  the  plants,  and  in  about  a  month  the  bun- 
dles are  removed  from  the  water,  dried,  and  then  beaten  over  a 
large  cloth  to  separate  the  myriads  of  eggs  with  which  the  in- 
sects had  covered  them.  Those  eggs  are  then  cleaned  and  sifted, 
put  in  sacks  like  flour,  and  sold  to  the  people  for  making  a  sort 
of  cake  or  biscuit,  called  hautle,  which  forms  a  tolerably  good 
food,  but  has  a  fleshy  taste,  and  is  slightly  acid.  The  bundles  of 
carex  are  replaced  in  the  lake  and  afford  a  fresh  supply  of  eggs, 
which  process  may  be  repeated  for  an  indefinite  number  of 
times. 
Moreover,  says  M.  Craveri,  the  Mexicans  collect  quantities 
of  these  insects  from  the  surface  of  the  water  by  means  of 
hooped  nets,  and  these  are  dried  and  sold  as  food  for  birds.  In 
Mexico,  these  dried  insects  are  sold  in  the  streets  and  markets, 
the  dealers  crying  u  Moschitos,  Mosehitos"  just  as  in  Europe 
they  cry  "  Food  for  your  singing  birds" 
It  appears  that  these  insects  have  been  used  from  an  early 
period,  for  Thomas  Gage,  a  religionist,  who  sailed  to  Mexico  in 
1625,  says,  in  speaking  of  articles  sold  in  the  markets,  that  they 
had  cakes  made  of  a  sort  of  scum  collected  from  the  lakes  of 
Mexico,  and  that  this  was  also  sold  in  other  towns. 
Brantz  Mayer,  in  his  work  on  Mexico  {Mexico  as  it  Was  and 
as  it  Is,  1844),  says,  "On  the  lake  of  Tescuco,  I  saw  men  occu- 
pied in  collecting  the  eggs  of  flies  from  the  surface  of  plants 
and  cloths  arranged  in  long  rows  as  places  of  resort  for  the 
insects.  These  eggs,  called  Agayacath,  formed  a  favorite  food 
of  the  Indians  long  before  the  conquest,  and  when  made  into 
cakes  resemble  the  roe  of  fish,  having  a  similar  taste  and  ap- 
pearance. After  the  use  of  frogs  in  France,  and  birds'  nests 
in  China,  I  think  these  eggs  may  be  considered  a  delicacy,  and 
