73 



Insects of the average size or a little over, found on plants rather re- 

 markable on account of the softness of their teguments. Most of them 

 have an epispastic or vesicant virtue made use of for a long time by doc- 

 tors. The canthaxides of pharmacies came from tropical countries and 

 more particularly from Spain. Our Lyttae have also the same virtue but 

 in a lighter degree of intensity. Hence the English appellation of Blister- 

 beetle Coleoptere Vesicant, given to those insects. 



Ash-Grav Blister Beetle 



Black Blister Beetle 



We \vill now proceed to the description of the three species which are 

 of some interest for us. They are the following: 



Scientific Names 



English Names 



French Names 



Epicauta cinerea Ash-gray colored Blister-beetle Epicaute gris-cendre 



Ma-jrobasis unicolor Gray Blister- beetle Epicaute noir 



Epicauta pennsylvanica Gray Blister-beetle Macrobase unicolore 



The Black Blister Beetle is of a uniform ash-grey color with a 

 body varying from one-third to one-half inch in length. It visits us gen- 

 erally in August. 



The Ash-Grey Blister Beetle is l^lack in colour and uniform- 

 ly clothed with a grey pubescence, with a body from three to five eights 

 of an inch long. It appears in the hot days of July. 



The Grey Blister Beetle is of a uniforn ash-grey color and 

 of a little larger size than the preceding one, its body varying from half 

 an inch to five eights of an inch in length. It is with us during the hot- 

 test days of July. 



Characteristics of the Meloidae. The insects w^hich we 



are studying lay their eggs in summer superficially in the soil where they 

 hatch and where their larvae undergo very interesting metamorphoses. 

 They enter first into the stage of "triungulin'', then assume the form 



