well-known _Timerman_ of Sweden and Lapland; an insect which the natives
of these countries regard with a kind of superstitious veneration. Its
presence is thought to be the presage of good fortune, and it is as
carefully protected and cherished as storks are by the peasantry of the
Low Countries.[229]
It has been found that the common cinnamon-colored Musk-beetle,
_Cerambyx moschatus_, when dried and reduced to powder, and made use of
as a vesicatory, in the manner of the officinal Cantharides, produces a
similar effect, and in as short a space of time.[230]
The _Prionus damicornis_ is a native of many parts of America and the
West Indies, where its larva, a grub about three and a half inches in
length, and of the thickness of the little finger, is in great request
as an article of food, being considered by epicures as one of the
greatest delicacies of the New World. We are informed by authors of the
highest respectability, that some people of fortune in the West Indies
keep negroes for the sole purpose of going into the woods in quest of
these admired larvæ, who scoop them out of the trees in which they
reside. Dr. Browne, in his History of Jamaica, informs us that they are
chiefly found in the plum and silk-cotton trees (_Bombax_). They are
commonly called by the name of _Macauco_, or _Macokkos_. The mode of
dressing them is first to open and wash them, and then carefully broil
them over a charcoal fire.[231] Sir Hans Sloane tells us the Indians of
Jamaica boil them in their soups, pottages, olios, and pepper-pots, and
account them of delicious flavor, much like, but preferable to, marrow;
and the negroes of this island roast them slightly at the fire, and eat
them with bread.[232]
A similar larva is dressed at Mauritius under the name of _Moutac_,
which the whites as well as the negroes eat greedily.[233] According to
Linnæus, the larva of the _Prionus cervicornis_ is held in equal
estimation; and that of the _Acanthocinus tribulus_ when roasted forms
an article of food in Africa.[234]
The _Cossus_ of Pliny belonged most probably to this tribe, or to the
_Lucanidæ_.
* * * * *
Wanley knew a nun in the monastery of St. Clare, who at the sight of a
beetle was affected in the following strange manner. It happened that
some young girls, knowing her disposition, threw a beetle into her
bosom, which when she perceived, she immediately fell into a swoon,
deprived of all sense, and remained four hours in cold sweats. She did
not regain her strength for many days after, but continued trembling and
pale.[235]
Galerucidæ--Turnip-fly, etc.
The striped Turnip-beetle, _Haltica nemorum_, commonly called the
_Turnip-fly_, _Turnip-flea_, _Earth-flea-beetle_, _Black-jack_, etc., is
a well known species from the ravages the perfect insect commits upon
the turnip. In Devonshire, England, in the year 1786, the loss caused by
these insects alone was valued at £100,000 sterling. And in the spring
of 1837, the vines in the neighborhood of Montpellier were attacked to
so great an extent by another species, _Haltica oleracea_, in the
perfect state, that fears were entertained for the plants, and religious
processions were instituted for the purpose of exorcising the
insects.[236]
Anatolius says that if the seeds of radishes, turnips, and other
esculents be sown in the hide of a tortoise, the plants when grown will
not be eaten by the fly, nor hurt by noxious animals or birds.[237]
Paladius has also related the method of drying the seeds in the hide of
this animal,[238] and of sowing them.[239]
ORDER II.
EUPLEXOPTERA.
Forficulidæ--Ear-wigs.
The vulgar opinion that the Ear-wig, _Forficula auricularia_, seeks to
introduce itself into the ear of human beings, and causes much injury to
that organ, is very ancient, but not founded on fact, for they are
perfectly harmless. To this opinion the names of this insect in almost
all European languages point: as in English, _Ear-wig_ (from Anglo-Saxon
_eare_, the ear, and _wigga_, a worm; hence, also, our word _wiggle_),
in French, _Perce-oreille_, and in the German, _Ohrwurm_. But, according
to some writers, these names arose from the shape of the wing when
expanded, which then resembles the human ear; and _ear-wig_ might easily
be a corruption of ear-_wing_.
Swift, in the following lines, introduces an “Ear-wig (probably a
_Curculio_) in a plum,” as though in allusion to some superstition:
Doll never flies to cut her lace,
Or throw cold water in her face,
Because she heard a sudden drum,
Or found an ear-wig in a plum.
“Oil of Ear-wigs,” says Dr. James, “is good to strengthen the nerves
under convulsive motions, by rubbing it on the temples, wrists, and
nostrils. These insects, being dried, pulverized, and mixed with the
urine of a hare, are esteemed to be good for deafness, being introduced
into the ear.”[240]
In August, 1755, in the parishes adjacent to Stroud, it is said there
were such quantities of Ear-wigs, that they destroyed not only the
fruits and flowers, but the cabbages, though of full growth. The houses,
especially the old wooden buildings, were swarming with them: the cracks
and crevices surprisingly full, so that they dropped out oftentimes in
such multitudes as to literally cover the floor. Linen, of which they
are fond, was likewise full, as was the furniture; and it was with
caution any provisions could be eaten, for the cupboards and safes
flocked with these little pests.[241]
ORDER III.
ORTHOPTERA.
Blattidæ--Cockroaches.
Sloane tells us the Indians of Jamaica drink the ashes of Cockroaches in
physic: bruise and mix them with sugar and apply them to ulcers and
cancers to suppurate; and are said also to give them to kill worms in
children.[242] Dr. James, quoting Dioscorides, Lib. II. cap. 38,
remarks: “The inside of the Blatta (_B. foetida_, Monf. 138), which is
found in bake-houses, bruised or boiled in oil, and dropped into the
ears, eases the pains thereof.”[243] It is most probable the insect now
called Blatta is not at all meant by either of the above gentlemen. The
Blatta of Dioscorides is quite likely the Blatta of Pliny, which has
been with good reason conjectured to be the modern _Blaps
mortisaga_--the common Church-yard beetle.
In England, the hedge-hog, _Erinaceus Europæus_, from its fondness for
insects and its nocturnal habits, is often kept domesticated in kitchens
to destroy the Cockroaches with which they are infested; and the
housekeepers of Jamaica, as we are informed by Sir Hans Sloane, for the
same reasons and purpose, keep large spiders in their houses.[244] A
species of monkey, _Simia jacchus_, and a species of lemur, _L.
tardigradus_, are also made use of for destroying these insects,
especially on board ships.[245] Mr. Neill, in the Magazine of Natural
History, in his account of the above-mentioned species of monkey, says:
“By chance we observed it devouring a large Cockroach, which it had
caught running along the deck of the vessel; and, from this time to
nearly the end of the voyage, a space of four or five weeks, it fed
almost exclusively on these insects, and contributed most effectually to
rid the vessel of them. It frequently ate a score of the largest kind,
which are from two to two and a half inches long, and a very great
number of the smaller ones, three or four times in the course of the
day. It was quite amusing to see it at its meal. When he had got hold of
one of the largest Cockroaches, he held it in his fore-paws, and then
invariably nipped the head off first; he then pulled out the viscera and
cast them aside, and devoured the rest of the body, rejecting the dry
elytra and wings, and also the legs of the insect, which are covered
with short stiff bristles. The small Cockroaches he ate without such
fastidious nicety.”[246]
The common Cockroach, or Black-beetle, as it is sometimes vulgarly
called, the _Blatta orientalis_, is said originally to be a native of
India, and introduced here, as well as in every other part of the
civilized globe, through the medium of commerce. In England, another
species, said to be a native of America, _Blatta Americana_, larger than
the last, is now also becoming very common, especially in seaport towns
where merchandise is stored.[247]
An old Swede, Luen Laock, one of the first Swedish clergymen that came
to Pennsylvania, told the traveler Kalm, that in his younger days, he
had once been very much frightened by a Cockroach, which crept into his
ear while he was asleep. Waking suddenly, he jumped out of bed, which
caused the insect, most probably out of fear, to strive with all its
strength to get deeper into his skull, producing such excruciating pain
that he imagined his head was bursting, and he almost fell senseless to
the floor. Hastening, however, to the well, he drew a bucket of water,
and threw some in his ear. The Roach then finding itself in danger of
being drowned, quickly pushed out backward, and as quickly delivered the
poor Swede from his pain and fears.[248]
The proverbial expression “Sound as a Roach” is supposed to have been
derived from familiarity with the legend and attributes of the Saint
Roche,--the esteemed saint of all afflicted with the plague, a disease
of common occurrence in England when the streets were narrow, and
without sewers, houses without boarded floors, and our ancestors without
linen. They believed that the miraculous St. Roche could make them as
“sound” as himself.[249]
A quite common superstitious practice, in order to rid a house of
Cockroaches, is in vogue in our country at the present time. It is no
other than to address these pests a written letter containing the
following words, or to this effect: “O, Roaches, you have troubled me
long enough, go now and trouble my neighbors.” This letter must be put
where they most swarm, after sealing and going through with the other
customary forms of letter writing. It is well, too, to write legibly and
punctuate according to rule.
Another receipt for driving away Cockroaches is as follows: Close in an
envelope several of these insects, and drop it in the street unseen, and
the remaining Roaches will all go to the finder of the parcel.
It is also said that if a looking-glass be held before Roaches, they
will be so frightened as to leave the premises.
A firm, which has been established in London for seven years, and which
manufactures exclusively poison known to the trade as the “Phosphor
Paste for the Destruction of Black-beetles, Cockroaches, rats, mice,”
etc., has given to Mr. Mayhew the following information:
“We have now sold this vermin poison for seven years, but we have never
had an application for our composition from any street-seller. We have
seen, a year or two since, a man about London who used to sell
beetle-wafers; but as we knew that kind of article to be entirely
useless, we were not surprised to find that he did not succeed in making
a living. We have not heard of him for some time, and have no doubt he
is dead, or has taken up some other line of employment.
“It is a strange fact, perhaps; but we do not know anything, or scarcely
anything, as to the kind of people and tradesmen who purchase our
poison--to speak the truth, we do not like to make too many inquiries of
our customers. Sometimes, when they have used more than their customary
quantity, we have asked, casually, how it was and to what kind of
business people they disposed of it, and we have always met with an
evasive sort of answer. You see tradesmen don’t like to divulge too
much; for it must be a poor kind of profession or calling that there are
no secrets in; and, again, they fancy we want to know what description
of trades use the most of our composition, so that we might supply them
direct from ourselves. From this cause we have made a rule not to
inquire curiously into the matters of our customers. We are quite
content to dispose of the quantity we do, for we employ six travelers to
call on chemists and oilmen for the town trade, and four for the
country.
“The other day an elderly lady from High Street, Camden Town, called
upon us: she stated that she was overrun with black beetles, and wished
to buy some of our paste from ourselves, for she said she always found
things better if you purchased them of the maker, as you were sure to
get them stronger, and by that means avoided the adulteration of the
shopkeepers. But as we have said we would not supply a single box to any
one, not wishing to give our agents any cause for complaint, we were
obliged to refuse to sell to the old lady.
“We don’t care to say how many boxes we sell in the year; but we can
tell you, sir, that we sell more for beetle poisoning in the summer than
in the winter, as a matter of course. When we find that a particular
district uses almost an equal quantity all the year round, we make sure
that that is a rat district; for where there is not the heat of summer
to breed beetles, it must follow that the people wish to get rid of
rats.
“Brixton, Hackney, Ball’s Pond, and Lower Road, Islington, are the
places that use most of our paste, those districts lying low, and being
consequently damp. Camden Town, though it is in a high situation, is
very much infested with beetles; it is a clayey soil, you understand,
which retains moisture, and will not allow it to filter through like
gravel. This is why in some very low districts, where the houses are
built on gravel, we sell scarcely any of our paste.
“As the farmers say, a good fruit year is a good fly year; so we say, a
good dull, wet summer, is a good beetle summer; and this has been a very
fertile year, and we only hope it will be as good next year.
“We don’t believe in rat-destroyers; they profess to kill with weasels
and a lot of things, and sometimes even say they can charm them away.
Captains of vessels, when they arrive in the docks, will employ these
people; and, as we say, they generally use our composition, but as long
as their vessels are cleared of the vermin, they don’t care to know how
it is done. A man who drives about in a cart, and does a great business
in this way, we have reason to believe uses a great quantity of our
Phosphor Paste. He comes from somewhere down the East-end or Whitechapel
way.
“Our prices are too high for the street-sellers. Your street-seller can
only afford to sell an article made by a person in but a very little
better position than himself. Even our small boxes cost at the trade
price two shillings a dozen, and when sold will only produce three
shillings; so you can imagine the profit is not enough for the itinerant
vendor.
“Bakers don’t use much of our paste, for they seem to think it no use to
destroy the vermin--beetles and bakers’ shops generally go
together.”[250]
If a black beetle enters your room, or flies against you, severe illness
and perhaps death will soon follow. I have never heard this superstition
but in Maryland.
Mantidæ--Soothsayers, etc.
We now come to a very extraordinary family of insects, the _Mantidæ_.
“Imagination itself,” as Dr. Shaw well observes, “can hardly conceive
shapes more strange than those exhibited by some particular
species.”[251] “They are called _Mantes_; that is, fortune-tellers,”
says Mouffet, “either because by their coming (for they first of all
appear) they do show the spring to be at hand, as Anacreon, the poet,
sang; or else they foretell death and famine, as Cælias, the scholiast
of Theocritus, writes; or, lastly, because it always holds up its
fore-feet, like hands, praying, as it were, after the manner of their
divines, who in that gesture did pour out their supplications to their
gods. So divine a creature is this esteemed, that if a childe aske the
way to such a place, she will stretch out one of her feet and show him
the right way, and seldome or never misse. As she resembleth those
diviners in the elevation of her hands, so also in likeness of motion,
for they do not sport themselves as others do, nor leap, nor play, but
walking softly she returns her modesty, and showes forth a kind of
mature gravity.”[252]
The name _Mantis_ is of Greek origin, and signifies diviner. In one of
the Idylls of Theocritus, however, it is employed to designate a thin,
young girl, with slender and elongated arms. _Præmacram ac pertenuem
puellam μαντιν. Corpore prælongo, pedibus etiam prælongis, locustæ
genus._
These insects, _Mantis oratoria_, _religiosa_, etc., in consequence of
their having, as Mouffet says, their fore-feet extended as if they were
praying, are called in France, _Devin_, and _Prega-diou_ or
_Prêche-dieu_; and with us, _Praying-insects_, _Soothsayers_, and
_Diviners_. They are also often called from their singular shape
_Camel-crickets_.
The Mantis was observed by the Greeks in soothsaying;[253] and the
Hindoos displayed the same reverential consideration of its movements
and flight.[254]
But, in modern times, the superstition respecting the sanctity of the
Mantis begins in Southern Europe, and is found in almost every other
quarter of the globe, at least wherever a characteristic species of the
insect is found.
In the southern provinces of France, where the Mantis is very abundant,
both the characters of praying and pointing out the lost way, as above
mentioned by Mouffet, are still ascribed to it by the peasantry, as is
evidenced by the above mentioned names they know them by. And here, as
wherever else this superstition obtains, it is considered a great crime
to injure the Mantis, and as, at least, a very culpable neglect not to
place it out of the way of any danger to which it seems exposed.
The Turks and other Moslems have been much impressed by the actions of
the common Mantis, the _religiosa_,[255] which greatly resemble some of
their own attitudes of prayer. They readily recognize intelligence and
pious intentions in its actions, and accordingly treat it with respect
and attention, not indeed as in itself an object of reverence or
superstition, but as a fellow-worshiper of God, whom they believe that
all creatures praise, with more or less consciousness and
intelligence.[256]
But it is in Africa, and especially in Southern Africa, that the Mantis
(here the _Mantis causta_)[257] receives its highest honors. The
attention of the travelers and missionaries in that quarter was
necessarily much drawn to the kind of religious veneration paid to an
insect, and from their accounts, though very contradictory, some curious
information may be collected.
The authority of Peter Kolben, an early German traveler to the Cape of
Good Hope, is as follows: That the Hottentots regard as a good deity an
insect of the “beetle-kind” peculiar to their country. This “beetle-god”
is described by him to be “about the size of a child’s little finger,
the back green, the belly speckled white and red, with two wings and two
horns.” He also assures us that whenever the Hottentots meet this
insect, they pay it the highest honor and veneration; and that if it
visits a kraal they assemble about it as if a divinity had descended
among them; and even kill a sheep or two as a thank-offering, and esteem
it an omen of the greatest happiness and prosperity. They believe, also,
its appearance expiates all their guilt; and if the insect lights upon
one of them, such person is looked upon as a saint, be it man or woman,
and ever after treated with uncommon respect. The kraal then kills the
fattest ox for a thank-offering; and the caul, powdered with _bukhu_,
and twisted like a rope, is put on, like a collar, about the neck, and
there must remain till it rots off.[258]
Kolben, in another place, describes the Mantis under the name of the
_Gold-beetle_, saying that its head and wings are of a gold color, the
back green, etc., as above.[259]
Mr. Kolben, again speaking of this singular reverence, remarks that the
Hottentots will run every hazard to secure the safety of this fortunate
insect, and are cautious to the last degree of giving it the slightest
annoyance, and relates the following anecdote:
“A German, who had a country-seat about six miles from the fort, having
given leave to some Hottentots to turn their cattle for awhile upon his
land there, they removed to the place with their _kraal_. A son of this
German, a brisk young fellow, was amusing himself in the kraal, when the
deified insect appeared. The Hottentots, upon sight, ran tumultuously to
adore it; while the young fellow tried to catch it, in order to see the
effect such capture would produce among them. But how great was the
general cry and agony when they saw it in his hands! They stared with
distraction in their eyes at him, and at one another. ‘See, see, see,’
said they. ‘Ah! what is he going to do? Will he kill it? will he kill
it?’ Every limb of them shaking through apprehensions for its fate.
‘Why,’ said the young fellow, who very well understood them, ‘do you
make such a hideous noise? and why such agonies for this paltry animal?’
‘Ah! sir,’ they replied, with the utmost concern, ‘’tis a divinity. ’Tis
come from heaven; ’tis come on a good design. Ah! do not hurt it--do not
offend it. We are the most miserable wretches upon earth if you do. This
ground will be under a curse, and the crime will never be forgiven.’
This was not enough for the young German. He had a mind to carry the
experiment a little farther. He seemed not, therefore, to be moved with
their petitions and remonstrances; but made as if he intended to maim or
destroy it. On this appearance of cruelty they started, and ran to and
again like people frantic; asked him, where and what his conscience was?
and how he durst think of perpetrating a crime, which would bring upon
his head all the curses and thunders of heaven. But this not prevailing,
they fell all prostrate on the ground before the young fellow, and with
streaming eyes and the loudest cries, besought him to spare the
creature and give it its liberty. The young German now yielded, and,
having let the insect fly, the Hottentots jumped and capered and shouted
in all the transports of joy; and, running after the animal, rendered it
the customary divine honors. But the creature settled upon none of them,
and there was not one sainted upon this occasion.”[260]
Afterward, Mr. Kolben, discoursing with these Hottentots, took occasion
to ask them concerning the utmost limit they carried the belief of the
sanctity and avenging spirit of this insect, when they declared to him,
that if the German had killed it, all their cattle would certainly have
been destroyed by wild beasts, and they themselves, every man, woman,
and child of them, brought to a miserable end. That they believed the
kraal to be of evil destiny where this insect is rarely seen. Mr. Kolben
asserts that they would sooner give up their lives than renounce the
slightest item of their belief.[261]
Dr. Sparrman, a Swedish traveler into the country of the Hottentots and
Caffres between the years 1772 and 1779, in speaking of the Mantis,
called in his time the “Hottentot’s God,” denies the above statement of
Mr. Kolben, and says the Hottentots are so far from worshiping it, that
they several times caught some of them, and gave them to him to put
needles through them, by way of preserving them, in the same manner as
he did with the other insects. But there is, he adds, a diminutive
species of this insect, which some think would be a crime, as well as
very dangerous, to do any harm to, but that it was only a superstitious
notion, and not any kind of religious worship.[262]
Dr. Thunberg, who traveled in South Africa about the same time as Dr.
Sparrman, corroborates the latter’s statement, and says he could see no
reason for the supposition that the Hottentots worshiped the Mantis,
but, he adds, it certainly was held in some degree of esteem, so that
they would not willingly hurt, and deemed that person a creature
fortunate on which it settled, though without paying it any sort of
adoration.[263]
Dr. Vanderkemp, in his account of Caffraria, after describing the
Mantis, says that the natives call it _oumtoanizoulou_, the _Child of
Heaven_, and adds that “the Hottentots regard it as almost a deity, and
offer their prayers to it, begging that it may not destroy them.”[264]
Mr. Kirchener, speaking of the same people, says they reverence a little
insect, known by the name of the _Creeping Leaf_, a sight of which they
conceive indicates something fortunate, and to kill it they suppose will
bring a curse upon the perpetrator.[265]