INSECT MEDICINES — CANTHARIDES. 233 



The remedial as well as the poisonous qualities of the cantharides were 

 well known to the ancients. Hippocrates prescribed them internally in 

 dropsy, jaundice, and amenorrhcea ; and Galen held the opinion that the 

 virus existed only in the body of the insect, and that the head, feet, and 

 wings contained its antidote. The ancient physicians attributed to the 

 Carabi qualities scarcely inferior to those of the cantharides. 



The late Dr. Duncan, in speaking of the adulteration of cantharides, 

 says : " The Melolontha vitis is sometimes found mixed in considerable 

 numbers with the cantharides. They are easily distinguished by their 

 almost square body and black feet ; and, as they do not stimulate the skin, 

 should be picked out before the cantharides are powdered." Emmel detected 

 fifteen per cent, of Chrysomela fatuosa in cantharides obtained from a com- 

 mercial house on the Continent, and he had no doubt that the admixture 

 was intentional. In Germany the golden beetle, Cetonia aurata, of Fabri- 

 cius, or Scarabceus auratus, of Linnaeus, is sometimes mixed with it ; but 

 this insect may be known by its greater proportional breadth and flat belly. 

 An instance of adulteration with glass beads came under the notice of Mr. 

 John Mackay, chemist, of Edinburgh, in 1842, but whether accidental or 

 intentional (to add to the weight) was not clear. 



The blistering flies of India are chiefly the Meloe (JMylabris cichorii), the 

 Cantharis gigas, and the Cantharis violacea, but others are also used. The 

 Mylabris cichorii is common in the neighbourhood of Dacca, in the Hydra- 

 bad country, and numerous other localities. Dr. Hunter has published a 

 good account of it in the fifth volume of the " Transactions of the Asiatic 

 Society," p. 216. The insect is about an inch long and a third broad. The 

 colour of the body and head is dark brown ; the elytra or wing coverts are 

 marked with six cross stripes of deep blue and russet brown. Parcels of it 

 frequently come now into the commercial sales of London. The Buprestis 

 of ancient writers is met with in the Indian bazaars, under the name of the 

 golden fly (SunamuM). The Cantharis violacea is often mixed with speci- 

 mens of Meloe in the bazaars. The Mylabris ciclwrii, if procured before 

 the mites have commenced its destruction, yields, according to Dr. 

 O'Shaughnessy (Bengal Dispensatory), one-third more of cantharidin than 

 the Spanish fly of the European shops. The blue fly is of uncertain 

 strength ; the Buprestis he found quite inert. A species of Meloe, called 

 the M. trianthema, from its being usually found on the plant named Trian- 

 ihema decandra, is described by Dr. Eleming. 



Specimens of the Indian blistering beetles, Mylabris pustulata and M. 

 punclum, a smaller species, were shown at the Madras Exhibition in 1855 

 by Dr. Collas, of Pondicherry, accompanied by a full and interesting report 

 on their blistering properties and careful researches into their natural 

 history, which he published in the " Moniteur Official," at Pondicherry, 

 on the 2nd March, 1854. Both insects are found in large quantities at 

 certain seasons all over Southern India. In various parts of the world 

 other blistering insects are used — as C. vittata and Lytta cinerea, in the 

 United States ; C. ata?noria, in Brazil ; and C. syriaca, in China. 



