151 



Extract from the Proceedings of the Entomological Society, Aih May 1840. 



A letter was read from Alexander Burn, Esq., dated Kiva, Gujerat, 

 December 6th, 1839, addressed to the President of the Entomological 

 Society, accompanying a box containing two Indian species of blister- 

 flies which abound at Gujerat, and which he had found to be equal 

 as vesicants to the Spanish fly : indeed when used fresh a liquor Lyttcs 

 of greater strength and activity can be obtained from them. The 

 writer had called the attention of the Bombay Government to these 

 insects as objects indigenous to India, which might be worthy of 

 attention as articles of commerce. The first, Lytta gigas, Fab., ap- 

 pears early in the season of the monsoon, (August and September), 

 creeping along the ground, seldom using its wings, and feeding on 

 the young tender shoots of grasses. The other species, Mylabris 

 pustulata, Blbg. flies about all day, and feeds on the flowers of various 

 plants, specially the esculent Cucurbitacees and Hibiscus esculentus and 

 cannabinus, abounding in some seasons to such an extent as to prove 

 extremely destructive to the plants, hardly a single blossom escaping 

 them. To the market gardeners they are therefore a great nuisance, 

 and as the objection to destroy animal life is extremely rank in this 

 part of India, the only plan adopted to get rid of them is picking them 

 with the hand from the plants into large earthen vessels, and sending 

 them to a distance of a mile or two to be set free in any wild or uncul- 

 tivated spot. 



In reference to the above letter Mr. G. Newport stated that he had 

 ascertained that Meloe Proscarabceus, the Common English species, was 

 highly diuretic, and it was suggested that as the two species of 

 Indian Cantharidce possessed very powerful medicinal properties and 

 were extremely abundant, it would be advisable that they should be 

 collected in quantities and imported into England, so as to supersede 

 the use of the common blister-fly,* 



* We would strongly recommend this object to the attention of mercantile people in 

 various parts of India, where these flies are common. The supplies of this article which 

 up to within the last eighteen months were imported from Europe, are now obtained 

 in the country for the public service at a saving of several hundred pounds per annum, 

 and it is found that the Native fly is better than the Spanish. These flies are universal 

 throughout India, and may be collected by women and children in any quantity at about 

 one-sixth of the market value of the Spanish fly in England. We would recommend mercantile 

 people who would turn their attention to this object, to consult the Secretary of the 

 Medical Board on the subject, from whom samples of the article, as used in medicine, 

 may be obtained as a guide.— Ed. 



