COLEOPTEEOTTS INSECTS. 220 



to violet. It is the most beautiful of the genus, 

 and is found in the South of England, but not fre- 

 quently. The most common species is M. prosca- 

 rabaeus. 



CANTHAIUS VESICATORIA, or BLISTER- 

 BEETLE. 



PLATE XIX. Fig. 3. 



Meloe vesicatorius, Linn. — Lytta vesicatoria, Fab. 



This is the well-known Blister-beetle, or Spanish 

 fly. It is entirely of a golden green, with the an- 

 tennae black. The head has a deeply impressed 

 line in the middle behind, and the surface of the 

 thorax is rather unequal. The elytra are corru- 

 gated like the surface of a piece of leather, and two 

 or three raised longitudinal lines are observable on 

 each. The length is from six to ten lines. Ac- 

 cording to Latreille, they appear in France about 

 the period of the summer solstice, and are found in 

 greatest abundance on the ash and lilac, on the 

 leaves of which they feed. In Spain, where they 

 are rather more plentiful than in other parts of Eu- 

 rope, they are usually collected for commercial pur- 

 poses in the month of June, when they assemble in 

 order to pair. They are shaken from the branches 

 of the shrubs which they frequent, and received in 

 sheets spread on the ground. They are killed by 

 being held in hair sieves over the fumes of vinegar, 



