262 POWDERED VEGETABLE DRUGS 



39. (Fig. 58.) CANTHARIS. Cantharides. U. S. 



The dried beetles Cantharis vesicatoria De Geer, Goleoptera. 



Dark, brownish, bluish purple irridescent. 



Disagreeable animal odor. 



Pungently acrid. 



The various tissues more or less agglutinated will appear in a 

 glycerin mount. The bluish irridescent fragments of the hard wing 

 covers are diagnostic of the true blistering beetle (brown in the Chinese 

 beetle, Mylabris cichorii). The chitinous spiculesare long, tapering 

 and nearly colorless, whereas in the Chinese beetle they are much 

 shorter and thicker and dark to nearly black. 



Ash should not exceed 8 per cent. 



The most common adulterant is the Chinese blistering beetle 

 above mentioned. The Colorado potato beetle has been used as an 

 adulterant and as a substitute. Rarely adulterated by vegetable 

 tissues, corn meal and cereal. 



