months together, expecting every hour the approach of some calamity,
only by a little worm, which breeds in old wainscot, and, endeavoring to
eat its way out, makes a noise like the movement of a watch!” Secret
Memoirs of the late Mr. Duncan Campbell, 8vo. Lond. 1732, p. 61.[189]
Authors were formerly not agreed concerning the insect from which this
sound of terror proceeded, some attributing it to a kind of wood-louse,
others to a spider.
M. Peiguot mentions an instance where, in a public library that was but
little frequented, _twenty-seven folio_ volumes were perforated in a
straight line by one and the same larva of a small insect (_Anobium
pertinax_ or _A. striatum_?) in such a manner that, on passing a cord
through the perfectly round hole made by the insect, these twenty-seven
volumes could be raised at once.[190]
Bostrichidæ--Typographer-beetles.
The Typographer-beetle, _Bostrichus typographus_, is so called on
account of a fancied resemblance between the paths it erodes and
letters. This insect bores into the fir, and feeds upon the soft inner
bark; and in such vast numbers that 80,000 are sometimes found in a
single tree. The ravages of this insect have long been known in Germany
under the name of _Wurm trökniss_--decay caused by worms; and in the old
liturgies of that country the animal itself is formally mentioned under
its common appellation, _The Turk_. About the year 1665, this pest was
particularly prevalent and caused incalculable mischief. In the
beginning of the last century it again showed itself in the Hartz
forests; it reappeared in 1757, redoubled its injuries in 1769, and
arrived at its height in 1783, when the number of trees destroyed by it
in the above-mentioned forests alone was calculated at a million and a
half, and the whole number of insects at work at once one hundred and
twenty thousand millions. The inhabitants were threatened with a total
suspension of the working of their mines, for want of fuel. At this
period these _Bostrichi_, when arrived at their perfect state, migrated
in swarms like bees into Suabia and Franconia. At length a succession of
cold and moist seasons, between the years 1784 and 1789, very sensibly
diminished the numbers of this scourge. In 1790 it again appeared,
however, and so late as 1796 there was great reason to fear for the few
fir-trees that were left.[191]
Cantharidæ--Blister-flies.
Many species of this family of insect possess strong vesicating powers,
and are employed externally in medicine to produce blisters, and
internally as a powerful stimulant. Taken internally, Pliny considered
them a poison, and mentions the following instance of their causing
death: Cossinus, a Roman of the Equestrian order, well known for his
intimate friendship with the Emperor Nero, being attacked with lichen,
that prince sent to Egypt for a physician to cure him; who recommended a
potion prepared from Cantharides, and the patient was killed in
consequence.[192] But there is no doubt, however, Pliny adds, that
applied externally they are useful, in combination with juice of
Taminian grapes, and the suet of a sheep or she-goat. They are extremely
efficacious, too, continues Pliny, for the cure of leprosy and lichens;
and act as an emmenagogue and diuretic, for which last reason
Hippocrates used to prescribe them for dropsy.[193]
The vesicatory principle of the Blister-fly is called _Cantharidine_,
and has been ascertained by experiment to reside more particularly in
the wings than in other parts of the body. Our officinal insect is the
_Cantharis vesicatoria_; and since the principal supply is from Spain,
we call them commonly _Spanish-flies_. In Italy, the _Mylabris
cichorii_, a native of the south of Europe, is used; and the _M.
pustulata_, a native of China, is used by the Chinese, who also export
it to Brazil, where it is the only species employed. In India also a
species of _Meloe_ is used,[194] possessing all the properties of the
Spanish-fly.
At one time in Germany, the genus Meloe--Oil-beetles (so called from
their emitting from the joints of the legs an oily yellowish liquor,
when alarmed)--were extolled as a specific against hydrophobia; and the
oil which is expressed from them is used in Sweden, with great success,
in the cure of rheumatism, by anointing the affected part.[195] Dr.
James thus enumerates the medicinal virtues of these insects: “The
Oil-beetle (_Scarabæus unctuosus_ of Schroder) is much of the nature of
Cantharides, forces urine and blood, and is of extraordinary efficacy
against the bite of a mad dog. Taken in powder, it cures the vari, or
wandering gout, as we are assured by Wierus. The liquor is, by some,
esteemed of efficacy in wounds; it is an ingredient also in plaisters
for the pestilential bubo and carbuncle, and in antidotes; an oil is
prepared by infusion of the living animals in common oil, which some
use instead of oil of Scorpions.”[196] In some parts of Spain, they are
mingled with the Cantharides, for the same purposes as these latter
insects. Farriers also employed, in some cases, oil in which these
insects had been macerated.[197]
Pliny tells us that Cato of Utica was one time reproached for selling
poison, because when disposing of a royal property by auction, he sold a
quantity of Cantharides, at the price of sixty thousand sesterces.[198]
The natives of Guiana and Jamaica make ear-rings and other ornaments of
the elytra, or wing-coverings, of the _Cantharis maxima_; the brilliant
metallic colors of which beetles, says Sloane, sparkle with an
extraordinary lustre, when worn by the Indians dancing in the sun.[199]
Zoroaster says, that “Cantharides” will not hurt the vines, if you
macerate some in oil, and apply it to the whetstone on which you are
going to set your pruning-knives.[200]
Cantharides are comparatively rare in Germany; yet we are told in the
German Ephemerides, says Brookes, that in June, 1667, there were found
about the town of Heldeshiem, such a great number of them, that they
covered all the willow-trees. Likewise that in May, 1685, when the sky
was serene and the weather mild, a great number of Cantharides were seen
to settle upon a privet-tree, and devour all the leaves; but they did
not meddle with the flowers. We are also told that the country people
expect the return of these insects every seven years. It is very
certain, adds Brookes, that such a number of these insects have been
together in the air, that they appeared like swarms of bees; and that
they have so disagreeable smell, that it may be perceived a great way
off, especially about sunset, though they are not seen at that time.
This bad smell is a guide for those who make it their business to catch
them.[201]
Tenebrionidæ--Meal-worms.
The larvæ of the _Tenebrio molitor_, commonly called Meal-worms, which
are found in carious wood, are bred by bird-fanciers, to feed
nightingales, and constitute the only bait by which these shy birds can
be taken: a fact the more curious when it is considered that the
nightingale, in a state of nature, can seldom or never see these larvæ.
They are also used to feed cameleons which are exhibited.[202]
Blapsidæ--Church-yard beetle, etc.
We learn from Linnæus that in Sweden the appearance of the Church-yard
beetle, _Blaps mortisaga_, produces the most violent alarm and
trepidation among the people, who, on account of its black hue and
strange aspect, regard it as the messenger of pestilence and death.
Hence is this insect called _mortisaga_--the prophesier of death.[203]
A common species in Egypt, the _Blaps sulcata_, is made into a
preparation which the Egyptian women eat with the view of acquiring what
they esteem a proper degree of plumpness! The beetle they broil and mash
up in clarified butter; then add honey, oil of sesame, and a variety of
aromatics and spices pounded together.[204] Fabricius reports that the
Turkish women also eat this insect, cooked with butter, to make them
fat. He also tells us that they use it in Egypt and the Levant, as a
remedy for pains and maladies in the ears, and against the bite of
scorpions.[205] Carsten Niebuhr also mentions this curious practice of
the women of Turkey, and adds, the women of Arabia likewise make use of
these insects for the same purpose, taking three of them, every morning
and evening, fried in butter.[206]
The Blatta mentioned by Pliny is evidently, from his description, the
Church-yard beetle, _Blaps mortisaga_, instead of the insect we now
call by that name--the Cockroach: and may very properly be here
introduced. “There is kind of fattinesse,” says this author in the words
of his translator, Philemon Holland, “to bee found in the Flie or insect
called Blatta, when the head is plucked off, which, if it be punned and
mixed with Oile of Roses, is (as they say) wonderful good for the ears:
but the wooll wherein this medicine is enwrapped, and which is put into
the ears, must not long tarrie there, but within a little while drawne
forth againe; for the said fat will very soone get life and prove a grub
or little worme. Some writers there be who affirme, that two or three of
these flies called Blattæ sodden in oile, make a soveraigne medicine to
cure the eares, and if they be stamped and spread upon a linen rag and
so applied, they will heale the eares, if they be hurt by any bruise or
contusion: Certes this is but a nastie and ill-favoured vermine, howbeit
in regard of the manifold and admirable properties which naturally it
hath, as also of the industrie of our auncestours in searching out the
nature of it, I am moved to write thereof at large and to the full in
this place. For they have described many kinds of them. In the first
place, some of them be soft and tender, which being sodden in oile, they
have proved by experience to be of great efficacie in fetching off
werts, if they be annointed therewith. A second sort there is, which
they call Mylœcon, because ordinarily it haunteth about mils and
bake-houses, and there breedeth: these by the report of _Musa_ and
_Picton_, two famous Physicians, being bruised (after their heads were
gone) and applied to a bodie infected with the leprosie, cured the same
persitely. They of a third kind, besides that they bee otherwise
ill-favoured ynough, carrie a loathsome and odious smell with them: they
are sharp rumped and pin buttockt also; howbeit, being incorporat with
the oile of pitch called Pisselæon, they have healed those ulcers which
were thought _nunquam sana_, and incurable. Also within one and twenty
daies after this plastre laid too, it hath been knowne to cure the
swelling wens called the King’s evil: the botches or biles named Pani,
wounds, contusions, bruises, morimals, scabs, and fellons: but then
their feet and wings were plucked off and cast away. I make no doubt or
question, but that some of us are so daintie and fine-eared, that our
stomacke riseth at the hearing onely of such medicines: and yet I assure
you, Diodorus, a renowned Physician, reporteth, that he has given these
foure flies inwardly with rozin and honey, for the jaundise, and to
those that were so streight-winded that they could not draw their breath
but sitting upright. See what libertie and power over us have these
Physicians, who to practise and trie conclusions upon our bodies, may
exhibit unto their patients, what they list, be it never so homely, so
it goe under the name of a medicine.”[207]
The following extraordinary case of insects introduced into the human
stomach, which is of rare occurrence, has been completely authenticated,
both by medical men and competent naturalists. It was first published by
Dr. Pickells, of Cork, in the Dublin Transactions.[208]
Mary Riordan, aged 28, had been much affected by the death of her
mother, and at one of her many visits to the grave seems to have
partially lost her senses, having been found lying there on the morning
of a winter’s day, and having been exposed to heavy rain during the
night. It appears that when she was about fifteen, two popular Catholic
priests had died, and she was told by some old woman, that if she would
drink daily, for a certain time, a quantity of water, mixed with clay
taken from their graves, she would be forever secure from disease and
sin. So following this absurd and disgusting prescription, she took from
time to time large quantities of the draught; and, some time afterward,
being affected with a burning pain in the stomach (_cardialgia_), she
began to eat large pieces of chalk, which she sometimes also mixed with
water and drank. In all these draughts, it is most probable, she
swallowed the eggs of the enormous progenies of apterous, dipterous, and
coleopterous insects, which she for several years continued to throw up
alive and moving. Dr. Pickells asserts that altogether he himself saw
nearly 2000 of these larvæ, and that there were many he did not see,
for, to avoid publicity, she herself destroyed a great number, and many,
too, escaped immediately by running into holes in the floor. Of this
incredible number, the greatest proportion were larvæ of the Church-yard
beetle, _Blaps mortisaga_, and of a dipterous insect, an _Ascarides_;
and two were specimens of the Meal-worm--the larvæ of the
Darkling--_Tenebrio molitor_. It may be interesting to learn that, by
means of turpentine in large doses, this unfortunate woman was at length
entirely rid of her pests.[209]
Curculionidæ--Weevils.
At Rio Janeiro, the brilliant Diamond-beetle, _Eutimis nobilis_, is in
great request for brooches for gentlemen, and ten piasters are often
paid for a single specimen. In this city many owners send their slaves
out to catch insects, so that now the rarest and most brilliant species
are to be had at a comparatively trifling sum. Each of these slaves,
when he has attained to some adroitness in this operation, may, on a
fine day, catch in the vicinity of the city as many as five or six
hundred beetles. So this trade is considered there very lucrative, since
six milresis (four rix dollars, or about fourteen shillings) are paid
for the hundred. For these splendid insects there is a general demand;
and their wing-cases are now sought for the purpose of adorning the
ladies of Europe--a fashion, it is said, which threatens the entire
extinction of this beautiful tribe.[210]
Messrs. Kidder and Fletcher tell us that in Brazil “a commerce is
carried on in artificial flowers made from beetles’ wings, fish-scales,
sea-shells, and feathers, which attract the attention of every visitor.
These are made,” they continue, “by the _mulheres_ (women) of almost
every class, and thus they obtain not only pin-money, but some amass
wealth in the traffic.”[211] Among the beetles referred to by these
gentlemen may be placed no doubt the _Eutimis nobilis_.
Among the largest of the species of this family is the Palm-weevil,
_Calandra palmarum_, which is of an uniform black color, and measures
more than two inches in length. Its larva, called the _Grou-grou_,[212]
or Cabbage-tree worm, which is very large, white, of an oval shape,
resides in the tenderest part of the smaller palm-trees, and is
considered, fried or broiled, as one of the greatest dainties in the
West Indies. “The tree,” says Madame Merian, “grows to the height of a
man, and is cut off when it begins to be tender, is cooked like a
cauliflower, and tastes better than an artichoke. In the middle of these
trees live innumerable quantities of worms, which at first are as small
as a maggot in a nut, but afterward grow to a very large size, and feed
on the marrow of the tree. These worms are laid on the coals to roast,
and are considered as a highly agreeable food.”[213] Capt. Stedman tells
us these larvæ are a delicious treat to many people, and that they are
regularly sold at Paramaribo. He mentions, too, the manner of dressing
them, which is by frying them in a pan with a very little butter and
salt, or spitting them on a wooden skewer; and, that thus prepared, in
taste they partake of all the spices of India--mace, cinnamon, cloves,
nutmegs, etc.[214] This gentleman also says he once found concealed near
the trunk of an old tree a “case-bottle filled with excellent butter,”
which the rangers told him the natives made by melting and clarifying
the fat of this larva.[215] Dr. Winterbottom states this grub is served
up at all the luxurious tables of West Indian epicures, particularly of
the French, as the greatest dainty of the western world.[216]
Dobrizhoffer doubtless refers to the larva of the _Calandra palmarum_,
when he says: “The Spaniards of Santiago in Tucuman, when they go
seeking honey in the woods, cleave certain palm-trees upon their way,
and on their return find large grubs in the wounded trees, which they
fry as a delicious food.”[217] The same is said of the Guaraunos of the
Orinoco--“that they find these grubs in great numbers in the palms,
which they cut down for the sake of their juice. After all has been
drawn out that will flow, these grubs breed in the incisions, and the
trunk produces, as it were, a second crop.”[218]
The Creoles of the Island of Barbados, says Schomburgk, consider the
Grou-grou worm a great delicacy when roasted, and say it resembles in
taste the marrow of beef-bones.[219]
Antonio de Ulloa, in his _Noticias Americanas_, says this grub has the
singular property of producing milk in women.[220] The Argentina, the
historic poem of Brazil, adds an assertion which is more certainly
fabulous, viz., that they first become butterflies, and then mice.[221]
They have a similar dainty in Java in the larva of some large beetle,
which the natives call _Moutouke_.--“A thick, white maggot which lives
in wood, and so eats it away, that the backs of chairs, and feet of
drawers, although apparently sound, are frequently rotten within, and
fall into dust when it is least expected. This creature may sometimes be
heard at work. It is as big as a silk-worm, and very white, ... a mere
lump of fat. Thirty are roasted together threaded on a little stick, and
are delicate eating.”[222]
Ælian speaks of an Indian king, who, for a dessert, instead of fruit set
before his Grecian guests a roasted worm taken from a plant, probably
the larva of the _Calandra palmarum_, a native of Persia and Mesopotamia
as well as of the West Indies, which he says the Indians esteemed very
delicious--a character that was confirmed by some of the Greeks who
tasted it.[223]
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 of Western Australia.
They have a fragrant, aromatic flavor, and form a favorite food among
the natives, either raw or roasted. They call them _Bardi_. They are
also found in the wattle-tree, or mimosa. The presence of these grubs in
the _Xanthorea_ is 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 grubs taken out, by breaking the tree to pieces with a
hammer. The bardi of the Xanthorea are small, and found together in
great numbers; those of the wattle are cream-colored, as long and thick
as a man’s finger, and are found singly.[224]
Dr. Livingstone states that in the valley of Quango, S. Africa, the
natives dig large white larvæ out of the damp soil adjacent to their
streams, and use them as a relish to their vegetable diet.[225]
In the latter part of the eighteenth century, there was published at
Florence, by Prof. Gergi, the history of a remarkable insect which he
names _Curculio anti-odontalgicus_. This insect, as he assures us, not
only in the name he has given it, but also in an account of the many
cures effected by it, is endowed with the singular property of curing
the toothache. He tells us, that if fourteen or fifteen of the larvæ be
rubbed between the thumb and fore-finger, till the fluid is absorbed,
and if a carious aching tooth be but touched with the thumb or finger
thus prepared, the pain will be removed; a finger thus prepared, he says
in conclusion, will, unless it be used for tooth-touching, retain its
virtue for a year! This remarkable insect is only found on a nondescript
plant, the _Carduus spinosis-simus_.[226]
It is said, also by Prof. Gergi, that the Tuscan peasants have long been
acquainted with several insects which furnish a charm for the toothache,
as the _Curculio jæcac_, _C. Bacchus_, and _Carabus chrysocephalus_.
* * * * *
The curious facts contained in the following quotation, from Chambers’
Book of Days, were among the first that led me to attempt the present
compilation. The scientific name of the insect here mentioned is, in the
opinion of Prof. Gill and other scientists, a misprint for _Rhynchitus
auratus_, and, following this decision, I have here placed it under the
_Curculionidæ_.--“A lawsuit between the inhabitants of the Commune of
St. Julien and a coleopterous insect, now known to naturalists as the
_Eynchitus aureus_, lasted for more than forty-two years. At length the
inhabitants proposed to compromise the matter by giving up, in
perpetuity, to the insects, a fertile part of the district for their
sole use and benefit. Of course the advocate of the animals demurred to
the proposition, but the court, overruling the demurrer, appointed
assessors to survey the land, and, it proving to be well wooded and
watered, and every way suitable for the insects, ordered the conveyance
to be engrossed in due form and executed. The unfortunate people then
thought they had got rid of a trouble imposed upon them by their
litigious fathers and grandfathers; but they were sadly mistaken. It was
discovered that there had formerly been a mine or quarry of an ochreous
earth, used as a pigment, in the land conveyed to the insects, and
though the quarry had long since been worked out and exhausted, some one
possessed an ancient right of way to it, which if exercised would be
greatly to the annoyance of the new proprietors. Consequently the
contract was vitiated, and the whole process commenced _de novo_. How or
when it ended, the mutilation of the recording documents prevents us
from knowing; but it is certain that the proceedings commenced in the
year 1445, and that they had not concluded in 1487. So what with the
insects, the lawyers, and the church, the poor inhabitants must have
been pretty well fleeced. During the whole period of a process,
religious processions and other expensive ceremonies that had to be well
paid for, were strictly enjoined. Besides, no district could commence a
process of this kind unless all its arrears of tithes were paid up; and
this circumstance gave rise to the well-known French legal maxim--‘The
first step toward getting rid of locusts is the payment of tithes?’ an
adage that in all probability was susceptible of more meanings than
one.”[227]
Cerambycidæ--Musk-beetles.
Moufet says: “The Cerambyx, knowing that his legs are weak, twists his
horns about the branch of a tree, and so he hangs at ease.... They
thrust upon us some German fables, as many as say it flies only, and
when it is weary it falls to the earth and presently dies. Those that
are slaves to tales, render this reason for it: Terambus, a satyrist,
did not abstain from quipping of the Muses, whereupon they transformed
him into a beetle called Cerambyx, and that deservedly, to endure a
double punishment, for he hath legs weak that he goes lame, and like a
thief he hangs on a tree. Antonius Libealis, lib. i. of his
Metamorphosis, relates the matter in these words: The Muses in anger
transformed Terambus because he reproached them, and he was made a
Cerambyx that feeds on wood,” etc.[228]