130 TMAILIM. {Melitta. *. b.) 



pressed between the fingers, they emit a powerful, 

 and at the same time agreeable, odor, resembling 

 the scent of Balm, or rather Dracoceplialum Mol~ 

 davicum (a). 



(a) I have often thought that if gentlemen, who amui5e 

 themselves with chemical experiments, would direct their at- 

 tention to insects, it might lead to the discovery of some 

 powerful medicines. The variety of strong scents, which these 

 little creatures emit, is wonderful. I remen:iber once, when $ 

 was walking with the ingenious Mr. Sowerby, we took a pe- 

 tiolated Sphex, nearly related to the 5". gibha of Villars, (Ent. 

 Eur. 3. n. 23.) if it be not the same, and to the Crairo Uflavum 

 of Hellwig, (Praizer. Fn. Germ. Init. n. 17- tab. 20.) and were 

 much struck with the very stimulating effluvia of aether which 

 issued from it, wlien slightly pressed. This insect is extremely 

 common upon umbelliferous plants, and might with ease be 

 collected in considerable numbers. Few entomologists are 

 ignorant that a delightful odor of roses is difRised by Ceramlyx 

 mosckaius; this is sometimes so copious as to fill a whole 

 apartment. Many Melittce, besides those of this family, havp 

 a strong scent, in some approaching to that of garlick or onion. 

 The same remark may be extended to a number o{ Idineumons, 

 which emit a most powerful, but at the same time not very 

 agreeable, scent. A most singular mixture of the odor of spices, 

 witli sometliing indescribably fetid, proceeds from Slaphyliniis 

 Irunipes, Fab. The universal use of Meloe vesicatoniis, the 

 most active of stimulants, is a sufficient and well-known proof 

 of tlie powerful effects which insects are capable of producing 

 upon tlie human frame. A circumstance which ought to en- 

 courage us to inquire further into the virtues of which they 

 may be possessed. The ancients seem to have had recourse to 

 more than one species in medicine, for the Heliocantharus or 

 Scarabcaus solans, which was probably the Scarabceiis pihdarhis 

 of Linneus, is said to have been a remedy in quartan agues» 

 ^ee Scapulae Lex. under KavSafoj. 



