The Spanish Fly The Corn-Weevil 561 



THE SPANISH FLY, OR CANTHARIS. 



(Cantliaris vcsicatoria.) 



THESE insects are found but rarely in this country ; they 

 are more common in France, but Spain, Italy, and Russia 

 seem to be their favourite localities. They make their 

 appearance in July, and are generally found upon ash 

 trees, the leaves of which form their food. They are of 

 great commercial importance, for they are found very 

 useful in medicine on account of their remarkable blister- 

 ing powers. They have a very disagreeable smell, and 

 emit a fluid of so corrosive a nature that many persons 

 have suffered greatly from gathering them ; and it is said 

 to be extremely dangerous to sleep under a tree infested 

 by them, as their smell produces a lethargic sleep, which 

 frequently terminates in death. They are generally 

 caught by laying linen cloths under the trees they 

 infest, and beating the boughs ; they are then put into 

 hair sieves, and held over vessels of boiling vinegar, 

 till the vapour kills them. After this they are dried 

 in ovens, or on hurdles, exposed to the sun, and then 

 packed up for sale. When dried, fifty of them hardly 

 weigh a drachm, but they do not lose their medicinal 

 properties by age unless allowed to get damp. Though 

 bearing the name Spanish Flies, the greatest quantity 

 is obtained from St. Petersburg, the Russian insects 

 being considered the best. 



They are of a highly poisonous nature, and there are 

 many instances, some even recent, of their producing 

 violent hasmorrhao-e and death. 



THE CORN-WEEVIL. (Calandra granaria.) 



THIS is a little beetle about an eighth of an inch in 

 length, of a reddish-brown colour, with a slender pro- 



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