INSECTS.
Insects furnish more food delicacies than is generally supposed. In the popularIntroduction to Entomology, by Kirby and Spence, it is well remarked, that,
‘If we could lay aside our English prejudices, there is no reason why some of the insects might not be eaten, for those used by various nations as food, generally speaking, live on vegetable substances, and are consequently much more select and cleanly in their diet than the pig or the duck, which form a favourite part of our food. They who would turn with disgust from a locust, or the grub of a beetle, feel no symptoms of nausea when a lobster, crab, or shrimp is set before them. The fact is, that habit has reconciled us to the eating of these last, which, viewed in themselves, with their threatening claws, and many feet, are really more disgusting than the former. Had the habit been reversed, we should have viewed the former with appetite, and the latter with abhorrence—as do the Arabs, who are as much astounded at our eating crabs, lobsters, and oysters, as we are at their eating locusts.’
Herrick, an old author, 200 years ago, in describing a feast given by Oberon to the fairy elves, alludes to the insects as amongst their choicest cates.
‘Gladding his palate with some storeOf emmet’s eggs: what would he more?But beards of mice, a newt’s stewed thigh,A bloated earwig, and a fly.With the red-capp’d worm that’s shutWithin the concave of a nut,Brown as his tooth;—a little moth,Late fatten’d in a piece of cloth.’Herrick’sHesperides, 1658.
‘Gladding his palate with some storeOf emmet’s eggs: what would he more?But beards of mice, a newt’s stewed thigh,A bloated earwig, and a fly.With the red-capp’d worm that’s shutWithin the concave of a nut,Brown as his tooth;—a little moth,Late fatten’d in a piece of cloth.’Herrick’sHesperides, 1658.
‘Gladding his palate with some storeOf emmet’s eggs: what would he more?But beards of mice, a newt’s stewed thigh,A bloated earwig, and a fly.With the red-capp’d worm that’s shutWithin the concave of a nut,Brown as his tooth;—a little moth,Late fatten’d in a piece of cloth.’Herrick’sHesperides, 1658.
‘Gladding his palate with some store
Of emmet’s eggs: what would he more?
But beards of mice, a newt’s stewed thigh,
A bloated earwig, and a fly.
With the red-capp’d worm that’s shut
Within the concave of a nut,
Brown as his tooth;—a little moth,
Late fatten’d in a piece of cloth.’
Herrick’sHesperides, 1658.
COLEOPTERA.
Many larvæ of insects, and especially of beetles, are eaten in different parts of the world.
The grub of the palm weevil (Cordylia palmarum), which is the size of the thumb, has long been in request in the East and West Indies. The natives of Surinam roast and eat them as something exquisite. In Jamaica, where it is known as the grou-grou worm, I have seen it eaten commonly. A grub namedMacaucois also there in request at the principal tables. It is eaten both by whites and blacks, who empty, wash, and roast them, and find them delicious. A similar insect is dressed at Mauritius, and eaten by all classes.
An old writer—Brookes,On the Properties and Uses of Insects, 1772, says—‘They are eaten by the French, in the West Indies, after they have been roasted before the fire, when a small wooden spit has been thrust through them. When they begin to be hot, they powder them with a crust of rasped bread, mixed with salt, and a little pepper and nutmeg. This powder keeps in the fat, or at least, sucks it up; and when they are done enough, they are served up with orange juice. They are highly esteemed by the French, as excellent eating.’
The larva, or grub, of one of the species of beetles which infest cocoa-nut trees, is calledTucuma, orGrugou, in British Guiana. It is about two or three inches long, and three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and the head is black. They are reckoned a great delicacy by wood-cutters and epicures of the country, and theyare generally dressed by frying them in a pan. By some they are preferred in a raw state, and after seizing them by the black head, they are dipped in lime-juice, and forthwith swallowed.
The late Mr. J. C. Bidwell, a botanist, travelling in Australia, states—‘I never before tasted one of the large grubs, which are a favourite food of the blacks. They are about four inches long, and about as thick as a finger. They inhabit the wood of the gum-trees. I had often tried to taste one, but could not manage it. Now, however, hunger overcame my nausea. It was very good, but not as I had expected to find it—rich; it was only sweet and milky.’
Sir Robert Schomburgk writes:—‘The decaying woods of the West India islands, the Central and some of the southern portions of America, afford a delicacy to the Indian, which many colonists do not even refuse, in the larvæ of a large beetle, which is found in considerable numbers in the pith, when the trunk is near its decay. The larva, or grub, is frequently of the size of the little finger; and, after being boiled or roasted, resembles in its taste beef marrow. The Indians of Guiana frequently cut down the Mauritia palm, for the purpose of attracting the beetle to deposit its eggs in it, and when they collect a large quantity, they are roasted over a slow fire, to extract the fat, which is preserved in calabashes.
The Roman epicures fattened some of these larvæ, or grubs, on flour. Some naturalists think that the grubs of most of the beetles might be safely eaten; and that those of the cockchafer, which feeds upon the roots of grass, or the perfect insects themselves, which, if we may judge from the eagerness with which cats, andturkeys and other birds devour them, are no despicable morsel, might be added to our food delicacies. This would certainly be one means of keeping down the numbers of these occasionally destructive animals.
The Goliath beetles are said to be roasted and eaten by the natives of South America and Western Africa, and they often make abonne boucheof splendid insects which would gratify many an entomologist. Although the large prices of £30, £40, or £50, which used to be asked for them, are now very much reduced, fine specimens of some of the species even now fetch five to six pounds for cabinet specimens.
The Australian aborigines are gourmands in their way, and able to appreciate the good things which surround them. Mr. Clement Hodgkinson in a work on Australia says:
‘Bellenger Billy amused me very much by his curious method of diving to the bottom of the river in search of cobberra, the large white worms resembling boiled maccaroni, which abound in immersed wood. He swam to the centre of the river with a tomahawk in his hand, and then breathing hard that his lungs might be collapsed, he rendered his body and tomahawk specifically heavier than water, and sank feet foremost to the bottom. After groping about there for some moments, he emerged on the river’s edge, with several dead pieces of wood, which he had detached from the mud. Although I had tasted from curiosity various kinds of snakes, lizards, guanas, grubs, and other animals which the blacks feed upon, I never could muster resolution enough to try one of these cobberra; although, when I have been engaged in the survey of salt-water creeks, and I felt hot andthirsty, I have often envied the extreme relish with which some accompanying black could stop and gorge himself with this moist, living marrow.’
The women of Turkey cook and eat a certain beetle (Blaps sulcata) in butter to fatten themselves.
ORTHOPTERA.
In the next order of insects, the locust tribe, as they are the greatest destroyers of food, so, as some recompense, they furnish a considerable supply of it to numerous nations. They are recorded to have done this from the most remote antiquity, some Ethiopian tribes having been named from this circumstance locust-eaters. The generic name of the locusts,Gryllus, sounds like an invitation to cook them. Pliny relates that they were in high esteem as meat amongst the Parthians. When there is a scarcity of grain, as a substitute for flour the Arabs grind locusts in their hand-mills, or pound them in stone mortars. They mix this flour with water into a dough, and make thin cakes of it, which they bake like other bread. They also eat them in another way; they boil them first a good while in water, and afterwards stew with oil or butter into a kind of fricassée of no bad flavour.
The large kinds of locust are made use of in several quarters as food, and in the markets of the Levant fresh and salted locusts are vended. Hasselquist tells us, that when corn is scarce, the Arabians grind the locusts in hand-mills, or pound them in stone mortars, and bake them as bread; and that even when there isno scarcity of corn, the Arabs stew them with butter and make them into a kind of a fricassée, the flavour of which is by no means disagreeable. Why should land shrimp sauce not be equal to sea shrimp sauce?
Locusts, Cumming tells us, afford fattening and wholesome food to man, birds, and all sorts of beasts. The hungry dogs and hogs feed greedily on them,—so that there are plenty of enemies to prey in time upon these wholesale depredators. Young turkeys live almost entirely on them in some parts of America, and become very fat when they are plentiful. Hence, if so many animals thrive upon them, they must necessarily be dainty food.
It is not only by the inhabitants of the Great Desert that the locusts are hailed with joy. The Kafirs also give them a hearty welcome, and make many a good meal upon them too,—not only eating them in large quantities, but making a sort of coffee-colored soup of their eggs.
Locusts are cooked in various ways—roasted, boiled, and fried. They are also salted and smoked, and packed away against a time of scarcity. It is said, they taste very much like fish, and are particularly light, delicate, and wholesome food. They are carried into many of the towns of Africa by waggon-loads, as we bring poultry to market.
The Hottentots are highly rejoiced at the arrival of the locusts in their country, although they destroy all its verdure, eating them in such quantities as to get visibly fatter than before, and making of their eggs a brown or coffee-coloured soup.
In the Mahratta country in India, the common people salt and eat them. This was anciently thecustom with many of the African nations, some of whom also smoked them.
Dishes of locusts are generally served up at the principal tables in Barbary, and esteemed a great delicacy. They are preferred by the Moors to pigeons; and a person may eat a plateful of 200 or 300 without feeling any ill effects. They usually boil them in water half-an-hour, having thrown away the head, wings, and legs, then sprinkle them with salt and pepper and fry them, adding a little vinegar.
Another traveller describes the way they are prepared for food in the desert of Zahara.—‘In and about this valley were great flights of locusts. During the day, they are flying around very thickly in the atmosphere; but the copious dews and chilly air in the night render them unable to fly, and they settle down on the bushes. It was the constant employment of the natives in the night to gather these insects from the bushes, which they did in great quantities. My master’s family, each with a small bag, went out the first night upon this employment, carrying a very large bag to bring home the fruits of their labor. My mistress, Fatima, however, and the two little children, remained in the tent. I declined this employment, and retired to rest under the large tent. The next day, the family returned loaded with locusts, and, judging by the eye of the quantity produced, there must have been about fifteen bushels. This may appear to be a large quantity to be gathered in so short a time, but it is scarcely worth mentioning when compared with the loads of them gathered, sometimes, in the more fertile part of the country over which they pass, leaving a track of desolation behind them. But as they were the first, in anyconsiderable quantity, that I had seen, and the first I had seen cooked and eaten, I mention it in this place, hoping hereafter to give my readers more particular information concerning these wonderful and destructive insects, which, from the days of Moses to this time, have been considered, by Jews and Mahometans, as the most severe judgment which Heaven can inflict upon man. But, whatever the Egyptians might have thought in ancient days, or the Moors and Arabs in those of modern date, the Arabs who are compelled to inhabit the desert of Zahara, so far from considering a flight of locusts as a judgment upon them for their transgressions, welcome their approach as the means, sometimes, of saving them from famishing with hunger. The whole that were brought to the tent at this time were cooked while alive, as indeed they always are, for a dead locust is never cooked. The manner of cooking is by digging a deep hole in the ground, building a fire at the bottom, as before described, and filling it up with wood. After it is heated as hot as is possible, the coals and embers are taken out, and they prepare to fill the cavity with the locusts, confined in a large bag. A sufficient number of the natives hold the bag perpendicularly over the hole, the mouth of it being near the surface of the ground. A number stand round the hole with sticks. The mouth of the bag is then opened, and it is shaken with great force, the locusts falling into the hot pit, and the surrounding natives throwing sand upon them to prevent them from flying off. The mouth of the hole is then covered with sand, and another fire built upon the top of it. In this manner they cook all they have on hand, and dig a number of holes sufficient to accomplish it, each containing aboutfive bushels. They remain in the hole until they become sufficiently cooled to be taken out with the hand. They are then picked out, and thrown upon tent-cloths or blankets, and remain in the sun to dry, where they must be watched with the utmost care to prevent the live locusts from devouring them, if a flight happens to be passing at the time. When they are perfectly dried, which is not done short of two or three days, they are slightly pounded, and pressed into bags or skins, ready for transportation. To prepare them to eat, they are pulverized in mortars, and mixed with water sufficient to make a kind of dry pudding. They are, however, sometimes eaten singly, without pulverizing, by breaking off the head, wings, and legs, and swallowing the remaining part. In whatever manner they are eaten, they are nourishing food.’
Captain Stockenstrom, in a paper in theSouth African Journalon these insects, observes, ‘Not only the locust-bird, but every animal, domestic and wild, contributes to the destruction of the locust swarms; fowls, sheep, horses, dogs, antelopes, and almost every living thing, may be seen devouring them with equal greediness; whilst the half-starved Bushmen, and even some of the colonial Hottentots, consider them a great luxury, consuming great quantities fresh, and drying abundance for future emergencies. Great havoc is also committed among the locusts by their own kindred; for as soon as any one of them gets hurt, or meets with an accident which impedes his progress, his fellow travellers nearest to him immediately turn upon him, and devour him with great voracity.’
Mr. Moffat (Missionary Labours in South Africa) states—‘The locusts for food are always caught atnight, when they are at rest, and carried in sacks to the nearest encampment or village, to be prepared for keeping. A very small quantity of water is put into a pot, and the locusts, piled up to the very brim, are covered very closely, so that they are rather steamed than boiled. They are next carefully separated and laid out to dry, which the heat of an Arabian or African sun does thoroughly and speedily; after which they are winnowed to get rid of the wings and legs, when they are laid up in heaps, or packed in bags of skin for future use. Sometimes the dry locusts are beaten into a powder, of which, with water and a little salt, a kind of pottage is made.’
Mr. R. Gordon Cumming, in the course of his rambles in Africa, fell in with swarms of locusts, and gives interesting accounts respecting them. Here are some extracts from his work:—
‘The next day, as we crossed a vast plain, a flight of locusts passed over our heads during upwards of half-an-hour, flying so thick as to darken the sun. They reached in dark clouds as far as we could see, and maintained an elevation of from 6 to 300 or 400 feet above the level of the plain. Woe to the vegetation of the country on which they alight! * *
‘On the march we crossed a swarm of locusts, resting for the night on the grass and bushes. They lay so thick that the waggons could have been filled with them in a very short time, covering the large bushes just as a swarm of young bees covers the branch on which it pitches. Locusts afford fattening and wholesome food to man, birds, and all sorts of beasts; cows and horses, lions, jackals, hyænas, antelopes, elephants, &c., devour them. We met a party of Batlapis carryingheavy burdens of them on their backs. Our hungry dogs made a fine feast on them. The cold frosty night had rendered them unable to take wing until the sun should restore their powers. As it was difficult to obtain sufficient food for my dogs, I and Isaac took a large blanket, which we spread under a bush, whose branches were bent to the ground with the mass of locusts which covered it, and having shaken the branches, in an instant I had more locusts than I could carry on my back. These we roasted for ourselves and dogs. Soon after the sun was up, on looking behind me, I beheld the locusts stretching to the west in vast clouds, resembling smoke; but the wind soon after veering round, brought them back to us, and they flew over our heads, for some time actually darkening the sun. * * * * * * * *
‘The dullness of the scene, however, was enlivened by a wondrous flight of locusts, the largest I had ever beheld. The prospect was obscured by them as far as we could see, resembling the smoke arising from a thousand giant bonfires; while those above our heads darkened our path with a double flight, the one next the ground flying north, while the upper clouds of them held a southerly course. The dogs, as usual, made a hearty meal of them. * * * *
‘We crossed the Limpopo, and having followed it for five miles, we at length got into a country so densely covered with locusts that the spore was no longer visible. A large herd of elephants had, during several previous nights, however, been there feasting upon these insects.’
According to Niebuhr, the Arabians distinguishseveral kinds of locusts, to which they give separate names. They refer only to the delicacy of its flesh, and not to the nature of the insect. The red locust is termedMerrken, as it is esteemed by the epicures much fatter and more succulent than the light locust, which is called by themDubbe, because it has a tendency to produce diarrhœa. The inhabitants of Arabia, Persia, Africa, and Syria, are accustomed to eat them. The Turks have an aversion to this kind of food; but if the Europeans express the same, the Arabians remind them of their fondness for crabs, &c. This kind of food, however, is supposed to thicken the blood, and produce melancholy.
The custom of feeding upon locusts seems more generally diffused than is supposed, and is not merely confined to Africa and Arabia. They are eaten by the Nanningetes in the Malay Peninsula.
Dampier states that, on islands near Timor, ‘They make also a dish of locusts, which come at certain seasons to devour their potatoes. They take them with nets, and broil or bake them in an earthen pan. This dish,’ he adds, ‘eats well enough.’
And the author ofA Mission to Avaspeaks of them as a Burmese dainty.
‘The most notable viand produced consisted of fried locusts. These were brought in, hot and hot, in successive saucers, and I was not sorry to have the opportunity of tasting a dish so famous. They were by no means bad, much like what we might suppose fried shrimps to be. The inside is removed, and the cavity stuffed with a little spiced meat.’
The Rev. R. Sheppard caused some of our largeEnglish grasshoppers, or field crickets, to be cooked in the way here recommended, only substituting butter for vinegar, and found them to be excellent food.
From these statements it will be seen, that the locusts which formed part of the sustenance of John the Baptist, and about which there has been much controversy among learned men, could be nothing else but the animal locust, so common a food in the East, and even in Africa, to the present day. They are eaten even by the North American Indians.
‘Among the choice delicacies with which the California Digger Indians regale themselves during the summer season,’ (says theEmpire County Argus,) ‘is the grasshopper roast. Having been an eye witness to the preparation and discussion of one of their feasts of grasshoppers, we can describe it truthfully. There are districts in California, as well as portions of the plains between Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains, that literally swarm with grasshoppers, and in such astonishing numbers that a man cannot place his foot to the ground, while walking there, without crushing great numbers. To the Indian they are a delicacy, and are caught and cooked in the following manner:—A piece of ground is sought where they most abound, in the centre of which an excavation is made, large and deep enough to prevent the insect from hopping out when once in. The entire party of diggers, old and young, male and female, then surround as much of the adjoining grounds as they can, and each with a green bough in hand, whipping and thrashing on every side, gradually approach the centre, driving the insects before them in countless multitudes, till at last all, or nearly all, are secured in the pit. In the meantime, smallerexcavations are made, answering the purpose of ovens, in which fires are kindled and kept up till the surrounding earth, for a short distance, becomes sufficiently heated, together with a flat stone, large enough to cover the oven. The grasshoppers are now taken in coarse bags, and after being thoroughly soaked in salt water for a few moments, are emptied into the oven and closed in. Ten or fifteen minutes suffice to roast them, when they are taken out and eaten without further preparation, and with much apparent relish, or as is sometimes the case, reduced to powder and made into soup. And having from curiosity tasted, not of the soup, but of the roast, really, if one could but divest himself of the idea of eating an insect, as we do an oyster or shrimp, without other preparation than simple roasting, they would not be considered very bad eating, even by more refined epicures than the Digger Indians.’
NEUROPTERA.
Another order of insects contains the so-called white-ant tribe (Termes), which, in return for the mischief it does at certain times, affords an abundant supply of food to some of the African natives. The natives of Western Australia pull out the young from the nests at one season of the year and eat them. Ducks and fowls also feed greedily on them.
In many countries, the termites, or white-ants, serve for food. In some parts of the East Indies, the natives catch the winged insects, just before their period of emigration, in the following manner:—They make twoholes, the one to the windward, the other to the leeward; at the leeward opening, they place the mouth of a pot, the inside of which has been previously rubbed with an aromatic herb, called bugera; on the windward side, they make a fire of stinking materials, which not only drives these insects, but frequently the hooded snakes also, into the pots, on which account they are obliged to be cautious in removing them. By this method, they catch great quantities, of which they make, with flour, a variety of pastry, which they can afford to sell very cheap to the poorer ranks of people. When this sort of food is used too abundantly, it produces, however, cholera, which kills in two or three hours. It also seems that, in some form or other, these insects are greedily eaten in other districts. Thus, when after swarming shoals of them fall into the rivers, the Africans skim them off the surface with calabashes, and, bringing them to their habitations, parch them in iron pots over a gentle fire, stirring them about as is usually done in roasting coffee; in that state, without sauce or any other addition, they consider them delicious food, putting them by handfuls into their mouths, as we do comfits.[30]
‘I have,’ says Smeathman, ‘eaten them dressed in this way several times, and think them delicate, nourishing, and wholesome. They are something sweeter, though not so fat and clogging, as the caterpillar or maggot of the palm-tree snout-beetle (Curculio palmarum), which is served up at all the luxurious tables of the West Indian epicures, particularly of the French, as the greatest dainty of the western world.’
Ants are eaten in many countries. In Brazil, the yellow ant, called cupia, and a larger species under the name of tama-joura, are much esteemed, being eaten by the aborigines mixed with resin for sauce. In Africa, they are stewed with butter. Ants have really no unpleasant flavour, but are very agreeably acid. In some parts of Sweden, ants are distilled along with rye, to give a flavour to the inferior kinds of brandy.
The large saubas (red-ants) and white-ants are an occasional luxury to the Indians of the Rio Negro; and when nothing else is to be had in the wet season, they eat large earth-worms, which, when the lands in which they live are flooded, ascend trees, and take up their abode in the hollow leaves of a species ofTillandsia, where they are often found accumulated by thousands. Nor is it only hunger that makes them eat these worms, for they sometimes boil them with their fish to give it an extra relish.[31]
The cocoons of the wood ant (popularly and erroneously called ants’ eggs) are collected on the Continent as food for nightingales and larks. A recent writer tells us, that in most of the towns in Germany one or more individuals make a living, during summer, by the business. He describes a visit to an old woman at Dottendorf, near Bonn, who had collected for fourteen years. She went to the woods in the morning, and collected in a bag the surfaces of a number of ant hills where the cocoons were deposited, taking ants and all home to her cottage, near which she had a tiled shed, covering a circular area, hollowed out in the centre, with a trench full of water around it. After covering the hollow in the centre with leafy boughs ofwalnut or hazel, she strewed the contents of her bag on the level part of the area within the trench, when the nurse-ants immediately seized the cocoons and carried them into the hollow under the boughs. The cocoons were thus brought into one place, and after being from time to time removed, and the black ones separated by a boy, who spread them out on a table and swept off what were bad with a strong feather, they were ready for market, being sold for about 4d.or 6d.a quart. Considerable quantities of these cocoons are dried for winter food for birds, and are sold in the shops.
Humboldt mentions that he saw insects’ eggs sold in the markets of Mexico, and which are collected on the surface of lakes. Under the name of axayacat, these eggs, or those of some other species of fly, deposited on rush mats, are sold as a caviare in Mexico. Something similar, found in the pools of the desert of Fezzan, serves the Arabs for food, having the taste of caviare.
In theBulletin de la Société Impériale Zoologique d’Acclimation, M. Guerin Méneville has published a very interesting paper on a sort of bread which the Mexicans make of the eggs of three species of hemipterous insects.
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 touté, on which the insects readily deposit their eggs. Numerous bundles of these plants are made, which are taken to a lagune, the Texcuco, where they float in great numbers in the water. The insects soon come and deposit their eggs on the plants,and in about a month the bundles are removed from the water, dried, and then beaten over a large cloth to separate the myriad of eggs with which the insects had covered them.
These eggs are then cleaned and sifted, put into sacks like flour, and sold to the people for making a sort of cake or biscuit called ‘hautlé,’ which forms a tolerably good food, but has a fishy 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.
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 Texcuco I saw men occupied 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, calledagayacath’ (Qy.axayacat), ‘formed a favourite food of the Indians long before the conquest: and when made into cakes, resembles the roe of a fish, having a similar taste and appearance. After the use of frogs in France, and birdsnests in China, I think these eggs may be considered a delicacy, and I found that they are not rejected from the tables of the fashionable inhabitants of the capital.’
The more recent observations of Messrs. Saussure, Sallé, Virlet D’Aoust, &c., have confirmed the facts already stated, at least, in the most essential particulars.
‘The insects which principally produce this animal farinha of Mexico, are two species of the genusCorixaof Geoffroy, hemipterous insects of the family of water-bugs. One of the species has been described by M. Guerin Méneville as new, and has been named by himCorixa fermorata: the other, identified in 1831 by Thomas Say as one of those sold in the market at Mexico, bears the name ofCorixa mercenaria. The eggs of these two species are attached in innumerable quantities to the triangular leaves of the carex forming the bundles which are deposited in the waters. They are of an oval form with a protuberance at one end and a pedicle at the other extremity, by means of which they are fixed to a small round disc, which the mother cements to the leaf. Among these eggs, which are grouped closely together, and sometimes fixed one over another, there are found others, which are larger, of a long and cylindrical form, and which are fixed to the same leaves. These belong to another larger insect, a species ofNotonecta, which M. Guerin Méneville has namedNotonecta unifasciata.’[32]
It appears from M. Virlet d’Aoust, that in October the lakes Chalco and Texcuco, which border on the city of Mexico, are haunted by millions of small flies, which, after dancing in the air, plunge down into the shallowest parts of the water, to the depth of several feet, and deposit their eggs at the bottom.
‘The eggs of these insects are called hautle (haoutle), by the Mexican Indians, who collect them in great numbers, and with whom they appear to be a favourite article of food.
‘They are prepared in various ways, but usually madeinto cakes, which are eaten with a sauce flavoured with chillies. To collect the eggs the Indians prepare bundles of rushes, which they place vertically in the lake at some distance from the shore. In about a fortnight, every rush in these bundles is completely covered with eggs. The bundles are then drawn out and dried in the sun upon a cloth for not more than an hour, when the eggs are easily detached. The bundles of rushes are then placed in the water again for another crop.’[33]
Mr. Ruschenberger, the surgeon to the American expedition to Siam, in describing a state feast given to the officers, states that the dinner was remarkable for the variety and exquisite flavour of the curries. Among them was one consisting of ants’ eggs, a costly and much esteemed luxury of Siam. They are not larger than grains of sand, and to a palate unaccustomed to them, are not particularly savory. They are almost tasteless. Besides being curried, they are brought to the table rolled in green leaves, mingled with shreds or very fine slices of fat pork. Here was seen an ever-to-be-remembered luxury of the East.
HYMENOPTERA.
It would hardly be suspected that bees serve for food in Ceylon and some other places,—an ungrateful return for their honey and wax.
The African Bushmen eat the caterpillars of the butterflies.
The Chinese, who waste nothing, after they have unwound the silk from the cocoons of the silk-worm, send the chrysalis to table. They also eat the larvæ of a hawk-moth, some of which tribe, Dr. Darwin tells us, are, in his opinion, very delicious. The natives of New Holland eat the caterpillars of a species of moth, and also a kind of butterfly, which they callbugong, which congregate in certain districts, at particular seasons, in countless myriads. On these occasions, the native blacks assemble from far and near to collect them; and after removing the wings and down, by stirring them on the ground, previously heated by a large fire, winnowing them, eat the bodies, or store them up for use, by pounding and smoking them. The bodies of these butterflies abound in an oil, with the taste of nuts; when first eaten, they produce violent vomitings and other debilitating effects; but these go off after a few days, and the natives then thrive and fatten exceedingly on this diet, for which they have to contend with a black crow, which is also attracted by the butterflies, and which they dispatch with their clubs, and use as food.
Two insects, a kind of butterfly, and a thick, white grub, found chiefly in dead timber, are much esteemed by the aborigines of Australia as articles of food. The former is eaten at certain seasons by whole tribes of natives in the northern districts. Their practice is to follow up the flight of the insects, and to light fires at night-fall beneath the trees in which they have roosted. The smoke brings the butterflies down, and their bodies are pounded together into a sort of fleshy loaf. Upon this delicacy the natives not only feed, but fatten. The white grub is swallowed whole in his living state, and is much sought for by sable epicures.
In India, and in South America, these grubs are also eaten as a dainty.
The trunk of the grass-tree, or black-boy (Xanthorea arborea), when beginning to decay, furnishes large quantities of marrow-like grubs, which are considered a delicacy by the aborigines in Western Australia. They have a fragrant, aromatic flavour, and form a favourite food among the natives, either raw or roasted. They call thembardi—and they are also found in the wattle tree, or mimosa. The presence of these grubs in axanthoreais thus ascertained: if the top of one of these trees is observed to be dead, and it contain any bardi, a few sharp kicks given to it with the foot will cause it to crack and shake, when it is pushed over and the grub extracted, by breaking the tree to pieces with a hammer. The bardi of thexanthoreaare small, and found together in great numbers; those of the wattle are cream coloured, as long and thick as a man’s finger, and are found singly. The excrement of the latter oozes from under the bark, of the appearance and consistence of clear gum. The galls formed on several species of sage by gall flies, in the Levant, are highly prized for their aromatic and acid flavour, especially when prepared with sugar. They constitute, in fact, a considerable article of commerce from Scio to Constantinople, where they are regularly sold in the market. They are known as sage apples, and in Greece are made into a kind of conserve, which is highly esteemed.
HEMIPTERA.
Coming to another order of insects, the cicada, or chirping flies, we find that these were eaten by the polished Greeks, and accounted very delicious. They were caught, strung, sold, and greedily devoured; and especially the females were relished on account of their white eggs. One species, a very long-lived one, which, if spared, lives to the age of 17 years, is still eaten by the Indians of America, who pluck off the wings and boil them. The aborigines of Australia eat them raw, after stripping off the wings.
The 17-year locusts, while in an underground grub state, are a favourite food of various species of animals. Immense numbers are destroyed by hogs before they emerge from the ground; they are also, when in their perfect state, eagerly devoured by chickens, squirrels, and many of the larger birds. The Indians likewise consider them a delicate food when fried; and in New Jersey they have been turned to a profitable account in making soap.
No insects are more numerous with us than caterpillars, and sad havoc they occasionally commit among our cabbages and cauliflowers. Now we generally make wry faces, when a stray one is served up with our greens, and the cook is severely taken to task; but these are reckoned among the chief delicacies of an African Bushman’s meal.
The Hottentots eat them boiled and raw, and soon get into good condition on this food. They bring large calabashes full of them to their habitations, and parch them in iron pots over a gentle fire, stirring them aboutas is done in roasting coffee. In that state, without sauce or other addition, they serve them up as delicious food, and eat them by handfuls, as we do sugar-plums.
One traveller tells us he has eaten them dressed in this way several times, and thought them delicate, nourishing, and wholesome, being sweeter than the grub of the weevil of the palm, and resembling in taste sugared cream or sweet almond paste.