COLEOPTERA. 123 



remarkable, that they arc collected for medical use, and are 

 sold in our shops by the name of Cantharis vittata, without a 

 suspicion of their being distinct from each other. Tht; black 

 Cantharis, or Cantharis atrata* is totally black, without bands 

 or spots, and measures from four tenths to half of an inch in 

 length. I have repeatedly taken these insects, in considerable 

 quantities, by brushing or shaking them from the potato-vines 

 into a broad tin pan, from which they were emptied into a 

 covered pail containing a little water in it, which, by wetting 

 their wings, prevented their flying out when the pail was un- 

 covered. The same method may be employed for taking the 

 other kinds of Cantharides, when they become troublesome 

 and destructive from their numbers ; or they may be caught 

 by gently sweeping the plants they frequent with a deep muslin 

 bag-net. They should be killed by throwing them into scald- 

 ing water, for one or two minutes, after which they may be 

 spread out on sheets of paper to dry, and may be made profit- 

 able by selling them to the apothecaries for medical use. 



There are some blistering beetles, belonging to another 

 genus, which seem deserving of a passing notice, not on 

 account of any great injury committed by them, but because 

 they can be used in medicine like the foregoing, and are con- 

 sidered by some naturalists as forming one of the links 

 connecting the orders Coleoptera and Orthoptera together. 

 These insects belong to the genus Mcloe, so named, it is sup- 

 posed, because they are of a black, or deep blue-black color. 

 They are called oil-beetles, in England, on account of the 

 yellowish liquid which oozes from their joints in large drops 

 when they are handled. Their head is large, heart-shaped, 

 and bent down, as in the other blistering beetles. Their thorax 

 is narrowed behind, and very small in proportion to the rest of 

 the body. The latter is egg-shaped, pointed behind, and so 

 enormously large, that it drags on the ground when the beetle 

 attempts to walk. The wings are wanting, and of course these 

 insects are unable to fly, although they have a pair of very 

 short oval wing-covers, which overlap on their inner edges, 



* Lytta atrata, Fabricius. 



