MELOE. 
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differs in being of a reddish purple colour, with a 
cast of deep gilded green. 
Meloe vesicafor'ms, Blister-FIj, or Spanish-Fly, 
is an insect of great beauty, being entirely of the 
richest gilded grass-green, with black antennas. 
Its shape is lengthened, and the abdomen, which 
. is pointed, extends somewhat beyond the wing- 
sheaths: its usual length is about an inch. This 
^ celebrated insect, the Cantharis of the Materia 
^ledica, forms, as is well known, the safest and 
^'y^^^^ most efficacious epispastic or blister-plaister, rais- 
ing, after the space of a few hours, the cuticle, and 
causing a plentiful serous discharge from the skin. 
It is supposed however that the Cantharis of Dios- 
corides, or that used by the ancients for the same 
purpose, was a different species, viz. the Meloe 
Cichorei* of Linnaeus, an insect nearly equal in. 
size to the M. Proscarabieus, and of a black 
colour, witli three transverse yellow bands on the 
wing-sheJls. The Meloe vesicatorius is principally 
found in the warmer parts of Europe, as Spain, 
the South of France, &c. It is also observed, 
though far less plentifully, in some parts of our 
own country. 
* See a dissertation on this subject in the sixth volume of the 
Amoenitates Academicae. The Chinese still use it instead of our 
Cantharides. 
