166 Transactions of the Boyal Society of South Africa. 
Pyrochroidcd, Bhipiphoridce, &c., which also belong to the Heteromeba, 
but the Meloidcd are easily recognised by their bi-partite claws. In some 
species of Cantharis, however, the lower part is partly or nearly com- 
pletely fused with the upper. 
A glance at Plate XXII., in which a figure of all the South African genera 
is given, shows how very different the facies of the Meloidce is, and how 
very dissimilar also are the buccal organs of, let us say, Synhoria and 
Nemognatha, of Meloe and Zonitodema. 
All the members of this Family have soft integuments, and they 
probably all emit through the leg-joints a substance called cantharidine, 
the chemical formula of which is C5H6O2, and which is used in medicine 
for raising blisters on the human skin, and other purposes. 
The amount of cantharidine obtained from the South African Myla- 
bridse is said to exceed that of Cantharis vesicatoria, the species from 
which in Europe this produce is obtained. 
According to Beauregard, two of the three or sometimes four pairs of 
glands connected with the genital organ of the male, and serving also as 
a seminal reservoir, are the seat of production of the active principle of the 
cantharidine. It is also found in the copulating sac, and in the ovaries of 
the female, but it is not restricted to these organs only, as it exists in the 
blood. The eggs have also an energetic blistering power, and we may 
conclude therefore that the larvae even in their first stage have the same 
power as the eggs. This property, however, is stated to be less powerful 
in the Zonitini than in the Meloini and Cantharini ; and is said to be 
absent in the Horiini. But the South African species Synhoria hotteiitota 
emits, like the species of Meloe, a pale yellow liquid through its leg-joints. 
As this liquid, which was erroneously thought to be blood, is found in the 
case of Meloe and other Cantharini to contain cantharidine, it is not un- 
reasonable to suppose that it contains some also in the case of Synhoria. 
In the adult stage most Meloidce feed on foliage, grass or flowers. 
Mylahrini are, in South Africa, very destructive to the flowers of Legu- 
minosse. Mylahris oculata proves very injurious to crops of beans, peas, 
&c., in the Eastern part of the Cape Colony, and also in the Transvaal. Of 
late it has taken to the blossoms of cultivated fruit trees. It is also at 
times not uncommon on the blossoms of our thorn, Acacia horrida. 
Mylahris hottentota is equally abundant in Natal and the Transvaal, to say 
nothing of the Orange Eiver Colony, and any cultivated flower, roses 
especially, seems to be especially attractive to this species. I have never 
noticed any South African Mylahris feeding on leaves. Synhoria hotten- 
tota is met within or in the immediate vicinity of the dried logs or standing 
posts in which the carpenter bees of the genus Xylocopa have burrowed 
their nests. Meloe, like its congeners elsewhere, drags its tumid body 
on the ground, and feeds on the foliage of low plants. Cyaneolytta 
