INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED liY INSECTS. 157 



M. Latreille, in an ingenious essay on this insect % 

 suspects it to belong- to the genus Mel'de^ F. ; and as this 

 feeds upon herbs, (3/. Proscarabceus, L. and Jf . viola- 

 cens, E.B. upon the Ranunculi, so widely disseminated 

 in our pastures,) his opinion seems to rest upon more 

 solid grousids tlian that of his predecessors : but yet I 

 think the insect in question rather belongs to Mt/la- 

 bris, F. and for the following reason. 



In order rightly to ascertain what insect this really 

 was, we must endeavour to trace it in the country in 

 which it received its name and character. This coun- 

 try was certainly Greece ; and there such an animal, 

 retaining- nearly its old name, and accused of being the 

 cause of the same injury to cattle, still exists. For 

 Belon informs us that on Mount Athos there is found 

 a winged insect like the blister-beetle, but yellow, 

 larger, and of a very offensive smell, which feeds upon 

 various plants, and is called by the Caloyers or Monks 

 Voitpristi, who assert that when horses or other cattle 

 even feed upon the herbs which the animals have 

 touched, they die from inflammation, and that it is an 

 immediate poison to oxen''. This therefore most pro- 

 bably was the Buprestis of the Greek writers ; and as 

 Pliny usually compiled from them, it may be regarded 

 as his also, which he tells us was a caustic insect and 

 prepared in the same manner as the blister-beetle '^. He 

 further observes that it was scarce in Italy. The Greek 

 insect of Mount Athos M. Latreille supposes to be a 

 Mylabris, and in this I agree with him ; and therefore 



^ Jnnales da Museum. — X^ Ann. N" xi. p. 129. 



'' Observations cie pluskurs SingulariUs, &^c. I. i. c. 45. p. 73, of the Edi- 

 tion in Sir Jos. Baniis's Library. "^ Hist. Nat. I. .'K.xix. c. 4. 



