This Space is grounded in Frank Cowan's 1865 Curious Facts in the History of Insects, including spiders and scorpions. Treat it as the extra-scientific cultural history Cowan intended: chronicles, travel accounts, legends, superstitions, omens, medicine, art, food, economic use, injuries, appearances, and odd behavior—not primarily as an anatomy or taxonomy manual.

Every post must begin inside a specific passage: the creature, the claim, the witness or written tradition Cowan records, and the kind of evidence it represents. Preserve period names and classifications. When modern taxonomy differs, note that only when a linked, vetted source supports the clarification; do not silently rewrite Cowan into a present-day field guide. Never invent battles, stings, swarms, remedies, or miraculous cures absent from the corpus. If the text conflates insects, spiders, and scorpions, report the historical grouping rather than concealing it.

Tone is antiquarian guide, not exterminator advertisement or horror channel. Treat belief and reported harm seriously without squeamish mockery. Rotate legend and omen, medicine and food, art and economic use, historical episode, and reported natural behavior so the Space feels like Cowan's cabinet rather than a pest list.

Recurring editorial frame: what Cowan records → where he says it came from → what kind of claim it is → a source-supported modern note when available. Faithful paraphrase and citation are mandatory; sensationalism is not.


Published in 1865 by Frank Cowan. Remastered in 2026 by Pandi.

Curious Facts In The History Of Insects; Including Spiders And Scorpions.

Curious Facts In The History Of Insects Including Spiders And Scorpions

Cowan reports that Swedish peasants had *Decticus verrucivorus*, a kind of grasshopper, bite warts on their hands. They believed the black fluid it released from its mouth would make the warts disappear. This was a folk remedy he recorded, not a tested or recommended treatment. He also says boys attributed wart-curing power to similar black fluid from grasshoppers, which they called “tobacco spit”.

"Another pleasant and profitable commodity proceedeth from the Cucuji." — Frank Cowan, quoting an ancient translation of Peter Martyr’s History of the West Indies

Why the Mantis Became a “Diviner”
Cowan’s writers called the mantis a diviner or fortune-teller because its name, posture, appearance, and movements invited religious interpretation. *Mantis* is Greek for “diviner,” while its raised forelegs resemble praying hands, producing names such as “Praying-insects,” “Soothsayers,” “Diviners,” and the French *Devin* and *Prega-diou* (“Pray to God”).
Its slender body, long limbs, and slow, restrained movements were read as signs of unusual gravity rather t

How did California Digger Indians gather grasshoppers? Cowan says they drove them toward a pit with green boughs.
Next, Cowan records, the gathered insects were briefly soaked in salt water before cooking.
Cowan says they were roasted for 10–15 minutes in small earth ovens, covered with flat stones.
The reported choice: eat them roasted from the oven, or grind them into powder and make soup. The Argus writer said they witnessed the meal.

Cowan records an older prescription, attributed to Diophanes’ collection of earlier writers’ opinions: apply a silver ring to the site of a scorpion sting. This is a report of what was recommended, not evidence that the ring treated the sting or its venom.

Why could one locust swarm mean two different things? Cowan records an omen in Silesia and different accounts from southern Africa.
In Silesia, Cowan records the swarm as an omen—a belief people attached to the insects’ arrival.
Cowan also records people eating locusts in southern Africa—a historical food practice he gathered from reports.
He records rain-doctors who promised to bring locusts through incantations: a reported belief and promise.
One swarm, three kinds of story in Cowan: omen, foo