Chapter III: Part 3

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]

A large species of longicorn beetles, the _Acanthocinus ædilis_, is the 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]

Mr. Evan Evans, a missionary to the Cape of Good Hope, gives an account of a conversation which he had with the Hottentot driver of his wagon, which seems to make out the claims of the Mantis to be the God of the Hottentots--as it is even yet called. The driver directed his attention to “a small insect,” which he called by its above-mentioned familiar name, and alluded to the notions he had in former times connected with it. “I asked him, ‘Did you ever worship this insect then?’ He answered, ‘Oh, yes! a thousand times; always before I came to Bethelsdorf. Whenever I saw this little creature, I would fall down on my knees before him and pray.’ ‘What did you pray to him for?’ ‘I asked him to give me a good master, and plenty of thick milk and flesh.’ ‘Did you pray for nothing else?’ ‘No, sir; I did not then know that I wanted anything else.... Whenever I used to see this animal (holding the insect still in his hand) I used sometimes to fall down immediately before it; but if it was in the wagon-road, or in a foot-path, I used to push it up as gently as I could, to place it behind a bush, for fear a wagon should crush it, or some men or beasts would put it to death. If a Hottentot, by some accident, killed or injured this creature, he was sure to be unlucky all his lifetime, and could never shoot an elephant or a buffalo afterward.’”[266]

Niuhoff, in his account of his travels in Java in 1643, tells us “the Javanese set two of these little creatures (Mantes) a fighting together, and lay money on both sides, as we do at a cock-match.”[267] Among the Chinese also this quarrelsome property in the genus Mantis is turned into an entertainment. They are so fond of gaming and witnessing fights between animals that, as says Mr. Barrow in his Travels, “they have even extended their inquiries after fighting animals into the insect tribe, and have discovered a species of Gryllus or Locust that will attack each other with such ferocity as seldom to quit their hold without bringing away at the same time a limb of their antagonist. These little creatures are fed and kept apart in bamboo cages, and the custom of making them devour each other is so common that, during the summer months, scarcely a boy is to be seen without his cage of grasshoppers.”[268] The boys in Washington City, who call the Mantis the “Rear-horse,” are also fond of this amusement.

Among the legends of St. Francis Xavier, the following is found. Seeing a Mantis moving along in its solemn way, holding up its two fore-legs, as in the act of devotion, the Saint desired it to sing the praises of God, whereupon the insect caroled forth a fine canticle.[269]

The _Mantis religiosa_ of America is said to make a most interesting pet when tamed, which can be done in a very short time and with but little pains. Professor Glover, of the Maryland Agricultural College, tells me he once knew a lady in Washington who kept a Mantis on her window which soon grew so tame as to take readily a fly or other small insect out of her hand. But Mrs. Taylor, in her Orthopterian Defense, has given us the particulars in full of a Mantis which she had petted. She speaks of it under the name of “Queen Bess,” and in her most interesting style, as follows:

“Queen Bess, of famous memory, would alight on my shoulder and take all her food from me half a dozen times a day. When she omitted her visit I knew she had been hunting on her own account. All night long she would keep watch and guard under the mosquito-net. The silk (the thread with which the insect was bound) was fastened to the post of the bed; and woe betide an unfortunate mosquito who fancied for his supper a drop of claret. It was the drollest, the most laughter-moving sensation, to feel one of these trumpeters saluting your nose or forehead, and hear Queen Bess approaching with those long claws, creeping slowly, softly, nearer and nearer; to feel the fine prick of the lancet setting in for a tipple; then you would suppose a dozen fine needles had been suddenly drawn across the part; then, _presto!_ Bess’s strong, saber-like claws had the jolly trumpeter tucked into her capacious jaws before you could open your eyes to ascertain the state of affairs.

“These creatures very seldom fly far,” continues Mrs. Taylor, “but walk in a most stately and dignified manner. Queen Bess could not bear to be overlooked or slighted(!); and as sure as she saw me bending over the magnifier with an insect, and I thought she was ten yards off, the insect would be incontinently snapped out of my fingers. Many a valuable specimen disappeared in this way. I learned to put her at these times in the sounding-board of an Æolian harp, which was generally placed in the window. Her majesty liked music of this kind amazingly; as the vibration was _felt_ though not heard. I presume she fancied she was serenaded by the singing leaves of the forest. I knew she would have remained there spell-bound until driven forth by hunger, if I did not remove her when I was not afraid of her company.

“As I have begun my ‘experiences,’” continues the same writer, “I will go through with them and confess that I was obliged from circumstances to attach more than accident to her prophetic capacity--her fortune-telling. I have not a grain of superstition to contend against in other matters, having so much reverence for the Creator of all things that I certainly have no fear of anything earthly or spiritually conveyed to the senses. But I was taught by the saddest teacher, Experience, that whenever Queen Bess’s refusal went unheeded I was the sufferer. The first time I ever tried it was to determine a vacillating presentiment I felt about trying a new horse whose reputation was far from good. I placed Queen Bess before me, held up my finger:

“‘Attention! Queen Bess, would you advise me to try that horse?’

“She was standing on her hind legs, her antennæ erect, wings wide spread. I repeated the question. Antennæ fell; wings folded; and down she went, gradually, until her head and long thorax were buried beneath her front legs. I took her advice, and did not venture. Two days later the horse threw his rider and killed him.

“Here was the turning-point. Was I to allow such folly to master me? If French girls do take a Mantis at the junction of three roads, and ask her on which their lover will come, and watch the insect turning and examining each road with her weird sibyl head,[270]--if French girls commit such follies, should I, a staid American woman, follow their example--putting my faith in the caprices of an insect? Pshaw! I was above such folly. So the next time Queen Bess was consulted a more decided refusal was given; but I disregarded her warning, and most sorely did I repent it. Again she would approve, by standing more erect, if possible, spreading and closing her wings; then all was sunshine with me. So it went for many months. Many others have had the same experience, if they will confess it honestly. I learned to obey the hidden head more carefully than any other, I am sorry to say; and I never, in one single instance, knew her to refuse her opinion; and I never knew it to be wrong in whatever way she announced it.”

This same superstitious woman says that boys and girls try their future expectations by making a mimic chariot, ballasting it with small pebbles, shot, or any such like thing, and harnessing the Mantis in with silk. Upon being freighted she rises immediately, as if to try the weight; if too heavy she will not fly. Lighten the chariot, and she will soar away to a tree or a field; then her owner is to be a lucky boy. If she will not go at all, or only a short distance, and soon come down, misfortune is to be his doom.[271]

Other superstitions among us, with respect to the Mantis are as follows:

When the Mantis (Rear-horse) kneels, it sees an angel in the way, or hears the rustle of its wings. When it alights on your hand, you are about to make the acquaintance of a distinguished person; if it alights on your head, a great honor will shortly be conferred upon you. If it injures you in any way, which it does but seldom, you will lose a valued friend by calumny. Never kill a Mantis, as it bears charms against evil.

From the great resemblance of many species of Mantis to the leaves of the trees upon which they feed, some travelers, who have observed them, have declared that they saw the leaves of trees become living creatures, and take flight. Madame Merian informs us of a similar opinion among the Indians of Surinam, who believed these insects grew like leaves upon the trees, and when they were mature, loosened themselves and crawled, or flew away.

We find also in the works of Piso an account of insects becoming plants. Speaking of the Mantis, that author says: “Those little animals change into a green and tender plant, which is of two hands breadth. The feet are fixed into the ground first; from these, when necessary humidity is attracted, roots grow out, and strike into the ground; thus they change by degrees, and in a short time become a perfect plant. Sometimes only the lower part takes the nature and form of a plant, while the upper part remains as before, living and movable; after some time the animal is gradually converted into a plant. In this Nature seems to operate in a circle, by a continual retrograde motion.”[272]

There may be, however, much truth in this remarkable metamorphosis; for, that an insect may strike root into the earth, and, from the co-operation of heat and moisture, congenial to vegetation, produce a plant of the cryptogamic kind, cannot be disputed. Westwood states that he has seen a species of _Clavaria_, both of the undivided and branched kinds, which had sprung from insects, and were four times larger than the insects themselves. In truth, it cannot then be denied that Piso may not have seen a plant of a proportionate magnitude which had likewise grown out of a Mantis. The pupæ of bees, wasps, and cicadas, have been known to become the nidus of a plant, to throw up stems from the front part of the head, and change in every respect into a vegetable, and still retain the shell and exterior appearance of the parent insect at the root. Specimens of these vegetated animals are frequently brought from the West Indies. Mr. Drury had a beetle in the perfect state, from every part of which small stalks and fibers sprouted forth; they were entirely different from the tufts of hair that are observed in a few Coleopterous insects, such as the _Buprestis fascicularius_ of the Cape of Good Hope, and were certainly a vegetable production.[273] Mr. Atwood, in his account of Dominica, describes a “vegetable fly” as follows: “It is of the appearance and size of a small Cock-chafer, and buries itself in the ground, where it dies; and from its body springs up a small plant, resembling a young coffee tree, only that its leaves are smaller. The plant is often overlooked, from the supposition people have of its being no other than a coffee plant, but on examining it properly, the difference is easily distinguished.... The head, body, and feet of the insect appearing at the foot as perfect as when alive.”[274]

Dr. Colin, of Philadelphia, has mentioned, also, on the authority of a missionary, a “vegetable fly,” similar to the last mentioned, on the Ohio River.[275]

The inhabitants of the Sechell Islands raise the _Mantis siccifolia_, or Dry-leaf Mantis, as an object of commerce and natural history.

Achetidæ--Crickets.

In the Island of Barbados, the natives look upon the creaking chirp of a species of Cricket, to which Hughes has given the name of the _Ash-colored_ or _Sickly Cricket_, when heard in the house, as an omen of death to some one of the family.[277]

In England, also, is the Cricket’s chirp sometimes looked upon as prognosticating death. “When Blonzelind expired,” Gay, in his Pastoral Dirge, says,

And shrilling Crickets in the chimney cry’d.[278]

So also in Reed’s Old Plays is the Cricket’s cry ominous of death:

And the strange Cricket i’ th’ oven sings and hops.

The same superstition is found in the following line from the Œdipus of Dryden and Lee:

Owels, ravens, Crickets, seem the watch of death.

Gaule mentions, among other vain observations and superstitious ominations thereupon, “the Cricket’s chirping behind the chimney stack, or creeping on the foot-pace.”[279]

Dr. Nathaniel Horne, after saying that “by the flying and crying of ravens over their houses, especially in the dusk of evening, and when one is sick, they conclude death,” adds, “the same they conclude of a Cricket crying in a house where there was wont to be none.”[280]

“Some sort of people,” says Mr. Ramsay, in his Elminthologia, “at every turn, upon every accident, how are they therewith terrified! If but a Cricket unusually appear, or they hear but the clicking of a Death-watch, as they call it, they, or some one else in the family, shall die!”[281]

Gilbert White, the accurate naturalist of Selborne, speaking of Crickets, says: “They are the house-wife’s barometer, foretelling her when it will rain; and are prognostics sometimes, she thinks, of ill or good luck, of the death of a near relation, or the approach of an absent lover. By being the constant companions of her solitary hours, they naturally become the objects of her superstition.”[282]

The voice of the Cricket, says the Spectator, has struck more terror than the roaring of a lion.

Mrs. Bray also notices that the Cricket’s chirp in England, which in almost all other countries, and in that too in some families, as will be shown hereafter, is considered a cheerful and a welcome note, the harbinger of joy,--is deemed by the peasantry ominous of sorrow and evil.[283]

“In Dumfries-shire,” says Sir William Jardine, “it is a common superstition that if Crickets forsake a house which they have long inhabited, some evil will befall the family; generally the death of some member is portended. In like manner the presence or return of this cheerful little insect is lucky, and portends some good to the family.”[284]

Melton also says,--“17. That it is a sign of death to some in that house where Crickets have been many years, if on a sudden they forsake the chimney.”[285]

The departure of Crickets from a hearth where they have been heard, is, at the present time, in England, considered an omen of misfortune.[286]

From the above statements of Mr. White, Mrs. Bray, and Sir William Jardine, we learn that in England the Cricket’s chirp is not always ominous of evil, but sometimes also of good luck, of joy, and of the approach of an absent lover.

A correspondent of the “Notes and Queries” mentions the Cricket’s cry as foreboding good luck.[287] So also a writer for “The Mirror,” remarking, it is singular that the House-cricket should by some persons be considered an unlucky, by others a lucky, inmate of the mansion. Those who hold the latter opinion, he adds, consider the destruction of these insects the means of bringing misfortunes on their habitations.[288] Grose thus expresses this last superstition: Persons killing these insects (including the Lady-bird, before mentioned) will infallibly, within the course of the year, break a bone, or meet with some other dreadful misfortune.[289]