Rev. F. W. Hope's Ohservations, &ic. 129 XIX. — Observations respecting various Insects which at dif-ferent times have afforded Food to Man. By the Rev. F. W. Hope, F.R.S. &c. [Read 4lh December, 1837.] I THINK it necessary to state at the commencement of this paper, that I confine my inquiries at present solely to insects, passing by the Crustacea.* It will, no doubt, after an investigation be generally admitted, that insects in very early days were eaten as an article of food ; as it may however be doubted by some indi-viduals, it will be better to clear up this point before we enter more minutely into the main object of our inquiry. Perhaps the earliest account we have of edible insects is that which is mentioned by Moses, the Jewish lawgiver, where insects are noticed in the catalogue of animals permitted for food, (vide Lev. xi. -'^l, 22), " These ye may eat, the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind." Without attempting at present fully to explain this passage, which has afforded ample matter for discussion to the commentator as well as the naturalist, I merely remark in alluding to it, first, that at the time the above passage was written, it may fairly be inferred that locusts had long been eaten as food ; and secondly, that in defining the different kinds, the object might be partly to deter the Jews from eating other insects, which experience had proved to be injurious, while the locusts, which were a wholesome food, might be eaten with im-punity, and therefore were they more especially recommended to notice. The next authority I have to advance in support of insects eaten as food, is that of Herodotus, the father of history. Speaking of the Nasamones he states, they regaled on locusts. The translation of the passage is as follows : " They hunt for locusts, which having dried in the sun, they reduce to powder and eat, mingled with milk." vid. Herod. Melpomene, chap. 72. Diodorus Siculus also mentions a race of Ethiopians who were so fond of eating this food, that they were called acridophagi, or locust eaters (vid. lib. 24, ch. 3). Instead of bringing forward at present a cloud of witnesses of ancient as well as modern * An account of the difterent edible species of Crustacea may at some future period be added to the present, should such a memoir be thought worthy the attention of the Society.
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