COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 
229 
to violet. It is the most beautiful of the genus, 
and is found in the South of England, but not fre- 
quently. The most common species is M. prosca- 
rabzeus. 
CANTHARIS VESICATORIA, or BLISTER 
BEETLE. 
PLATE XIX. Fig. 3. 
Meloe vesicatorius, Linn . — Lytta vesicatoria, Fab. 
This is the well-known Blister-beetle, or Spanish 
fly. It is entirely of a golden green, with the an- 
tennae black. The head has a deeply impressed 
line in the middle behind, .and the surface of the 
thorax is rather unequal. The elytra are corru- 
gated like the surface of a piece of leather, and two 
or three raised longitudinal lines are observable on 
each. The length is from six to ten lines. Ac- 
cording to Latreille, they appear in France about 
the period of the summer solstice, and are found in 
greatest abundance on the ash and lilac, on the 
leaves of which they feed. In Spain, where they 
are rather more plentiful than in other parts of Eu- 
rope, they are usually collected for commercial pur- 
poses in the month of June, when they assemble in 
order to pair. They are shaken from the branches 
of the shrubs which they frequent, and received in 
sheets spread on the ground. They are killed by 
being held in hair sieves over the fumes of vinegar, 
