512 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [November, 1910. 



morning or evening and immediately killed by exposing them 

 to steam. They are then thoroughly dried in the sun and kept 

 in bottles to preserve them from moisture. The beetles con- 

 sisting of several species of Mylabridese are collected for com- 

 mercial purpose at Gwalior, and are used in all the Government 

 Medical Store Depots as a substitute for Spanish fly (Cantharis 

 vesicatoria). 



The natives recognize their anti-hydrophobic properties 

 and employ them in cases of bites of mad dogs. As a blister- 

 ing agent they are not well recognized, the cauterium actuate 

 or burning with a hot iron being preferred. 



The Telini fly yields a larger quantity of cantharidin than 

 Spanish blistering fly. Mylabris beetles have been found to 

 contain from 073 to 1-92 per cent, of cantharidin, while the 

 average yield of active principle in commercial cantharides is 

 06 per cent. Eldred and Bartholomew in 1908 found l - 24 and 

 1*36 per cent, of cantharidin in Chinese blistering flies. The 

 ash varies from 3*8 to 5 per cent. 



L akin us MACULATUS , Falderm. . . . . The Cocoon. 



Vern. : — Schakar tigal, trehala, tricala, Pers. ; Sakar-el- 

 tighal, shakarti-fdl, Hind. 



The cocoons are formed by this curculionid beetle on a 

 species of Echinops. The cocoons are ovoid or globular in 

 form, about £ inch in length, their inner surface is composed of 

 a smooth, hard, dusky layer, external to which is a thick 

 rough tuberculated coating of greyish- white colour and earthy 

 appearance. Some of the cocoons have attached to them the 

 remains of the tomentose stalk or spiny leaf of the plant. 

 The drug is brittle and sweetish to the taste. Dr. Honigberger 

 states that these insect nests were imported into Lahore from 

 the Peninsula. The cocoons are figured in Hanbury's 

 "Science Papers," p. 161, and in Honigberger' s "Thirty-five 

 years in the East." 



The saccharine principle was examined by Berthelot 

 {Compt. Rendus, 28 Juin 1858, 1276) and named by him treha- 

 lose, a body possessing distinctive properties which separate 

 it from other sugars. By means of a ferment, trehalase, 

 obtained from cultivation of Aspergillus niger, P. Harang has 

 obtained from 23 to 30 per cent, of trehalose from the 

 cocoons. (J. Pharm. Chim., 1906, 23,471.) 



MOLLUSCA. 



Meleagrina margaritifera, Lam. Pearl Oyster. 



Unio marginalts, Lam. .. Freshwater Pearl Mussel. 



Vern.: — Mukta, Sans.; Mootie, Hind.; Moothoo, Tam. ; 

 Juhvr, lulu, Arab.; Mirwareed, Pers. 



