HOMOGANGLIATA. 



Articulated Animals. 



No. 5. 



CANTHAEIS VESICATOBJA. 



THE BLISTER BEETLE, OR SPANISH FLY. 



The animal substance. Cantharidin. A medicinal agent. 



Geog. Position. Europe. 



Quality. Acrid, heavy, disagreeable odor. 



Power. Stimulant, diuretic, rubefacient, epispastic. 



Use. A vesicating material in plaster or oils. Cautiously 



in gleet, leucorrhcea, paralysis of the bladder. In large 



doses poisonous. 



SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS- 



Natural Classification. 

 4. DIVISION Homogangliata. CLASS Insecta. 



Ballard and Garrod, 453. Lond. Disp. 231. Thomson's Mat. Med. 982, 1105. 

 Pereira, Mat. Med., II. 782. U. S. Disp. 166. EC. Disp. U. S. 104. 



GENUS CANTHARIS. 



Cantharides (Fr.), Spanische Fliegen, oder Kantharidea (G.), Spanche Vliegen 

 (Dutch), Spanka (Swed.), Machy Hisapanskie (Pol.), Cantarelle (I.), Cantari- 

 das (S.). 



THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERS. 



Head provided with two antennce of various forms, and al- 

 most always with eleven articulations. Eyes two, with 

 facets, no smooth eyes. 



Mouth composed of a labrum, or upper lip ; a pair of man- 

 dibles of a scaly consistence, a pair of jaws, having each 

 one or two pair of palpi, and a labium having a pair of la- 

 bial palpi. Mandibles and jaws for mastication. 



Wings four, of which the two upper or anterior are horny or 

 leathery, united down the back by a straight suture. Low- 

 er or posterior wings folded longitudinally. 



Larva vermiform, with six short feet. Nymph inactive, with 

 limbs visible. 



Metamorphosis complete. 



1 



