The Coccus which produces lac, or gumlac, is a native of India, and thrives and multiplies best on several species of the fig-tree. A cheap method having been discovered within the last few years of separating the colouring matter which it contains from the resinous part, it has greatly increased in commercial importance.
In the tropical zone we find that not only many birds and several four-footed animals live chiefly, or even exclusively, on insects, but that they are even consumed in large quantities, or eaten as delicacies, by man himself. The nomade of the Sahara and the South African bushman hail the appearance of locust swarms as a season of plenty and good living, and ants’ eggs eke out the meagre bill of fare of the wild Indians on the banks of the Orinoco.
Several of the large African caterpillars are edible, and considered as a great delicacy by the natives. On the leaves of the Mopané tree, in the Bushman country, the small larvæ of a winged insect, a species of Psylla, appear covered over with a sweet gummy substance, which is collected by the people in great quantities, and used as food. Another species in New Holland, found on the leaves of the Eucalyptus, emits a similar secretion, which, along with its insect originator, is scraped off the leaves and eaten by the aborigines as a saccharine dainty.
The chirping Cicadæ, or frog-hoppers, which Aristotle mentions as delicious food, are still in high repute among the American Indians; and the Chinese, who allow nothing edible to go to waste, after unravelling the cocoon of the silkworm, make a dish of the pupæ, which the Europeans reject with scorn.
The Goliath beetles of the coast of Guinea are roasted and eaten by the natives, who doubtless, like many other savages, not knowing the value of that which they are eating, often make a bonne bouche of what an entomologist would most eagerly desire to preserve.
Several of the more brilliant tropical beetles are made use of as ornaments, not only by the savage tribes, but among nations which are able to command the costliest gems of the East. The golden elytra of the Sternocera chrysis and Sternocera sternicornis serve to enrich the embroidery of the Indian zenana, while the joints of the legs are strung on silken threads, and form bracelets of singular brilliancy.
The ladies in Brazil wear necklaces composed of the azure green and golden wings of lustrous Chrysomelidæ and Curculionidæ, particularly of the Diamond beetle (Entimus nobilis); and in Jamaica, the elytra of the Buprestis gigas are set in ear-rings, whose gold-green brilliancy rivals the rare and costly Chrysopras in beauty.
DIAMOND BEETLE.
