Chapter 2. Insect Foods of North American Indigenous Populations ...

Chapter 213 of 68 9/20/2012 1:34 PMRussell (1898: 228) noted that some Indian tribes in the far north depend almost entirely on the cariboufor survival -- for food and for skins for lodges and clothing. Every part of the animal was utilized, including thegrubs in its back (considered to be Hypoderma lineatum de Villers by Russell, but now known as H. bovis). Thegrubs were well-developed by the latter part of April. Russell states, "The Indians did not remove them frompieces of meat destined for the kettle," but cites an earlier report by Hearne that, "They are always eaten raw andalive out of the skin and are said by those who like them to be as fine as gooseberries." Children were particularlyfond of them. Felt (1918) cites R.M. Anderson (1918) and says: "He states that the Eskimos pick out the grubsfrom the hides in the spring and eat them like cherries and adds, apparently from experience, that they are verywatery and absolutely tasteless."Harper (1955: 52, 57) reported that “the larvae of the warble fly (Oedemagena tarandi), found beneaththe skin of the Caribou, are relished by the Eskimos, being eaten apparently while alive and raw.” Harper cites a1795 paper by Hearne reporting the Indians as eating the warbles in his day.Rhagionidae (snipe flies)Atherix sp., egg masses with adult femalesAldrich (1912b) relates two Indian accounts of harvesting a species of Atherix, a fly genus in whichoviposition sites may become covered with a mass of both flies and eggs to a depth of several inches. In the firstaccount, by a Modoc Indian, the flies were called Ha-lib-wah, and they were gathered early in the summer in thefollowing manner:The Indians would place logs across the river in about the same manner that a present-day log orlumber boom is constructed. Then they would go up stream and shake the flies off the willowbushes growing along the banks of the river. The flies falling on the water would float downstream and lodge against the logs in great quantities. As many as a hundred bushels could begathered in this way in a single day. The Indians used a kind of basket to dip the flies from thewater and carry them to the place where they were to be prepared for food.Aldrich describes in detail the method of preparing the flies in a pit lined with hot stones.The account given to Aldrich by a Pit River Indian, also referring to Modoc County, California, wassomewhat different:[The flies would gather] near the head of a small canyon through which flowed a small stream ofwater. . . some time in the month of May, and could be gathered by the tons. The trees, bushesand rocks were covered with them in places to the depth of five or six inches. Hence it was notrouble to gather them, for they could be scraped off the rocks and trees into great heaps. . . Thetime of gathering them was in the cool of the morning when they were all settled and too cold tofly. In the heat of the day the air would be so filled with them as to exclude the sun and one couldsee but a short distance.The food was called "Why-hauts" by the Pit River Indians, and a great deal of it was used as part of the winterfood supply. Their method of preparation, described by Aldrich, was somewhat different from that of the ModocIndians.Essig (1931) made several trips to the Pit River in an attempt to collect specimens and determine theidentity of the Atherix species reported earlier as food by Aldrich, but he was not successful. Extensive powerdevelopments may have altered the habitat sufficiently that the insect is no longer abundant. He did find alongthe river, however, "the California salmon fly, Pteronarcys californica Newport, a plecopteran that emerges inenormous numbers during the month of May" and "fairly swarms on the bushes along the streams" in the area."The adults could be shaken from the bushes and collected in bulk as they readily float on the water." This insectis used extensively for trout fishing in the region, but whether it might be the insect collected earlier as food cannot be known with certainty.Tipulidae (crane flies)Holorusia rubiginosa Loew, larvaTipula derbyi Doane, larvaTipula quaylii Doane, larvaTipula simplex Doane, larva