210 
NATUTIAL HISTORY. 
dried, fifty of them fcarcely weigh a drachm. 
Shrubs, and particularly the leaves of afli- 
tree, are their food. So corrofive are the 
odorous particles emited by this infect, that 
great caution is required in taking them. — 
]'"or many have been known to have fuffered 
greatly, by only having gathered a quantity 
of them with their bare hands in the heat of 
the fun : fome have been oppreffed with 
fleep, by fitting under trees on which fwarms 
of cantharides have fettled. Contrary to 
the general cuftom of nature, the female 
courts the male. The larvae are produ«ed 
from the ground, where the eggs are always 
depofited. Thefe infefts, reduced to pow- 
der, are exceedingly efficacious as blifters, 
in abforbing or drawing off humours which 
threaten the effential parts of life. But the 
cantharides is, notwithftanding, a mofl: for- 
midable poifon, if taken internally without 
the greatefl caution. Some who have been 
afflifted by their incautious ufe of them, 
liave found the beft antidotes to be milk, 
olives, cainphire, and oil of fweet almonds. 
The larvtE of the meloes inhabiting this 
country, greatly refemblethe perfeft infers; 
for they are of the fame colour, are as large, 
and are as flow in their motion. They are 
generally found buried deep in the earth, 
where they metamorphofe themfelves into 
perfeft cantharides. 
Wehave introduced the meloe veficatori- 
tis, which is geucrrilly known by cantha- 
rides 
