September 2,1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
1S1 
VESICATING INSECTS. 
BY M. C. COOKE, M.A. 
[Continued from page 142.) 
Part III. European and African Mylabrid.e. 
Having already enumerated tlie Asiatic species, 
more or less economized as vesicants, it remains to 
give some account of the European and African 
species. Of the 275 sfiecies already known, at least 
100 are African, so that Africa may he regarded as 
the head-quarters of the genus, but we are very de¬ 
ficient of information as to the extent to which any 
of them are employed as vesicants. Only three 
species have been recorded in the New World, one 
of these is certainly a Lytta, and both the others 
are very doubtful. It is probable that no true My¬ 
labris is found in America. 
Floral Mylabris, Mylabris Jioralis, Pall.; hairy, 
black; elytra blue-black, with two yellow bands, and 
two spots, of which one is at the base, the other at 
the apex.—Pall. Icon. t. H. f. e. 8; Schseff. Icon. t. 
151. f. 3. Mylabris Fiisselini, Biz. Fn. G. xxx. 18 ; 
Bellb. Mon. t. ii. f. 12, 13. M. variabilis, Tausch. 
Mem. Mosc. iii. t. 10. f. 5. M.fasciatus, Fiissel. Verz. 
p. 20. 398. t. i. f. 1 e. 
Head hairy, black, punctate. Thorax scarcely 
longer than broad, black with black hairs, punctate. 
Scutellum black, hairy, punctate. Elytra three times 
as long as broad, rugoso-punctate, bands and spots 
evidently punctate, with scarcely the rudiments of 
elevated longitudinal lines, subvillous, hairs at the 
base longer and blue-black; a solitary spot by the 
scutellum, tw T o dentate, v r avy bands, one above, the 
other below the middle, and one spot at the apex; 
all the bands and spots yellow. Wings hyaline, 
tawny. Breast and abdomen rugoso-punctate, black, 
rather sliining, hairy. Feet black, hairy. 
Native of Germany, Switzerland and other parts 
of Europe. 
It is stated in Christison’s ‘Dispensatory,’ and 
some other works, that this is employed as a vesicant 
in some parts of Europe, under the name of Mylabris 
Fiisselini. 
Twelve-spot Mylabris, Mylabris duodecimpunc- 
tata, Oliv.; hairy, black; elytra brick-red, with six 
black points in pairs.—Tausch. Mem. Mosc. iii. t. 10. 
f. 10; Oliv. Ency. Meth. Mylabris crocata, Oliv. 
Ent. iii. t. 2. f 23; Billb. Mon. t. 7. f. 8. M. cyanes¬ 
cens, Illig. Meloe crocata, Pall. Icon. p. 87. t. E. 
Lytta lutea, Pall. Iter. p. 222. 
Head hairy, black, punctate. Thorax a little 
longer than broad, hairy, black, punctate. Scutellum 
black. Elytra three times as long as broad, rugose, 
marginate, with scarce the rudiments of elevated 
lines, yellowish, with six black points in pairs, of 
which two are before the middle, two about the mid¬ 
dle, the fifth behind the middle, at the suture, and 
the sixth near the apex. Breast and abdomen black, 
hairy, punctate. Feet black, hairy. 
Native of Hungary, Russia, France, etc. 
This species is misquoted by Moquin-Tandon 
(Med. Zool. p. 135) as M. cyanescens, where it is 
stated to have been recommended by M. Farines, a 
pharmaceutist of Perpignan. In Gemminger and 
Herold’s Catalogue, doubtless on the authority of 
Marseul, the M. cyanescens of Illiger is quoted as 
Third Series, No. G3. 
synonymous with the M. crocata and the M. duo- 
decimpunctata of Olivier. 
Variable Mylabris, Mylabris variabilis, Pall.; 
villous; black; elytra shining black, with three 
ocliraceous bands, the first interrupted, and the 
upper margin coloured.—Pall. Ic. p. 81. t. E. f. 7 ; 
Oliv. iii. p. 10. t. 2. f. 14 b ; Billb. Mon. t. 3. f. 3*. 
Meloe fasciatus, Fiissel. Verz. p. 20. T. f. 1 c. 
Head black, hairy, punctate. Thorax scarcely 
longer than broad, black. Scutellum black, hairy. 
Elytra three times as long as broad, shining black, 
somewhat hairy, hairs very short and black, with 
three ocliraceous bands, the first at the shoulder in¬ 
terrupted, the second and third waved, the black 
apex also broad with the margin yellowish or ochra- 
ceous, roughly punctate, with four elevated longitu¬ 
dinal lines. Wings hyaline, tawny at the apex. 
Breast and abdomen black, punctate, hairy. Feet 
black, hairy. 
Native of Russia, Germany, and Switzerland. 
Included by Moquin-Tandon with vesicants on the 
authority of Dr. Bretonneau (Annales des Sc. Nat. 
xiii. 1828. p. 78). 
Spotted Mylabris, Mylabris maculata, Oliv.; 
black; elytra rufous, with two black spots at the 
base, and posteriorly two broad, black, somewhat in¬ 
terrupted bands.—Oliv. Ent. iii. 47. t. i. f. 9; Billb. 
Mon. t. 6. f. 10-14; Tausch. Mem. Mosc. t. x. f. 7. 
M. bimaculata, Oliv. Ency. Meth. viii. p. 93; Jacq. 
Duv. Gen. Col. iii. t. 93. f. 403. 
Smaller than M. pustulata. The body is gene¬ 
rally black, the elytra are rufous, marked towards 
the base with two black spots, at the middle 'with a 
broad band, nearly interrupted at the suture and 
narrowed towards the margin; near the apex an¬ 
other band, equally black, slightly dentate. 
Native of Russia, Egypt and the East. 
This species is stated by Gervais and Van Bene- 
den (Med. Zool.) to be employed in Greece. 
Olive-tree Mylabris, Mylabris Olece, Cast.; 
black ; elytra brick-red; apex and two bands black, 
the foremost abbreviated laterally, the second entire, 
the margin not sinuated.—Cast. Hist. Nat. ii. 1840, 
p. 209 ; Erichs. Wagn. Reis. iii. 1841. p. 185. t. 8 ; 
Lucas, Exp. Alg. p. 387. 
Antenme black. Body black, rather shining. 
Head as broad as the thorax, closely punctate. 
Thorax laterally slightly rounded, punctate, sub- 
rugulose. Elytra smooth, densely and finely punc¬ 
tate, brick-red, with three black bands, the first 
scarcely touching the margin, the second in the 
middle of the elytra, the third apical, all with their 
margins nearly entire, the space before and behind 
the middle band nearly equal, the basal not more 
than half as broad. Length 10-12 lines. 
This species is a native of Algeria, Tangiers and 
Morocco. M. Guerin-Meneville lias named it as a 
vesicating insect, on whose authority it is cited by 
Moquin-Tandon (Med. Zool. p. 135). It is a large 
species, being equal to the majority of specimens of 
M. phalerata. 
In Mozambique, Peters. (Reise, 1802) enumerates 
and describes eleven species, of which it is hinted 
that some are employed as vescants. Those named 
are M. catenata, M. dicincta, M. pruinosa, M. rufi- 
crus, M. serricornis, M. tettensis, M. tricolor, M. tri- 
furca, M. tripartita, M. tristigma, M. lanuginosa, 
and the M. Burmeisteri of Bertolini. 
