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]