September 30,187L] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
261 
VESICATING- INSECTS. 
BY M. C. COOKE, M.A. 
( Continued from page 181.) 
Several species of Mylabris inhabit the Cape of 
Good Hope besides those already enumerated as 
common also to Asia. It is uncertain whether these 
or any of them are locally employed as vesicants. 
The following are the principal:— 
M. Lavaterce, Fabr.; hairy, black; elytra shin¬ 
ing, spot at the base, and two subequal broad 
bands, paled vermilion.—Billb. Mon. t. 1. f. 7. M. 
pustulata, var., Oliv. Ent. iii. t. i. f. 1 f; Roem. Gen. 
Ins. t. 7. f. a. —This is a large insect, and most pro¬ 
bably employed. 
M. quadrifaseiata , Thunb.; hairy, black ; elytra 
black, with four yellowisli-white bands, the second 
interrupted, and the third dentate.—Billb. Moil. t. 2. 
f. 4-8; Thunb. N. Sp. f. 18. 
M. Gyllenhali, Billb.; villous, black; elytra black, 
with seven ocliraceous spots, the last nearly at the 
extreme apex.—Billb. Mon. t. 2. f. 9-11. M. varia- 
bilis, Oliv. Ent. iii. t. 2. f. 14 a. 
M. tripunctata, Thunb.; villous, black; elytra 
yellowish or flesh-coloured, with three points, an 
arched band behind the middle, and the apex black. 
—Thunb. Sp. Ins. vi. p. 112; Billb. Mon. t. iii. f. 14- 
10. 
M. cocca, Thunb.; villous, black; elytra rugose, 
brick-red, with four punctate black bands, inter¬ 
spaces maculieform.—Thunb. N. Sp. vi. f. 11, 12; 
Billb. Mon. t. iv. f. 6-9. 
M. capensis , Fabr.; villous, black; elytra black, 
with six yellow spots, that on the shoulder arcuate. 
—Oliv. Ent. iii. t. 2. f. 12 ; Billb. Mon. t. iv. f. 11; 
Wulf, Ins. Cap. t. i. f. 5 a, b; De Geer, Mem. vii. 
t. 48. f. 14. 
M. undata , Thunb.; villous, black ; elytra black, 
with two waved yellow bands, and an uncinate spot 
next the scutellum.—Thunb. N. Sp. vi. f. 17; Billb. 
Mon. t. iv. f. 10,17. Canth. undatofasciata, De Geer, 
Mem. vii. t. 48. f. 15, 16. 
M. sexdecimguttata, Thunb.; villous,black; elytra 
black, with eight yellowish spots, the three last 
confluent.—Thunb. Sp. Ins. vi. f. 20; Billb. Mon. 
t. v. f. i. 
M. quadriguttata, Wulf; hairy, black; elytra 
black, with six yellowish spots, of which the two 
last are almost confluent.—Wulf, Ins. Cap. t. 1. f. 
7 a, b; Billb. Mon. t. v. f. 3, 4. 
M. decern guttata, Thunb.; villous, black; elytra 
black, with live rounded yellow spots, of which the 
one in the foremost angle is linear.—Thunb. N. Sp. 
vi. f. 19; Billb. Mon. t. 5. f. 5. 
M. fiavicornis, Fe.br.; villous, black; elytra black, 
with three tawny bands, and two spots at the apex. 
—Billb. Mon. t. vi. f. 3. 
M. lunata, Fabr.; villous, black; elytra black, 
with an ochraceous lunate spot at the base, and two 
bands of the same colour, narrowed towards the 
margin.—Oliv. Ent. iii. t. i. f. 2 a, b ; Billb. Mon. 
t. vi. f. 4-7 ; Thunb. N. Sp. vi. f. 15; Pall. Icon. t. E. 
f. 5 a, b. M. americana, Herbst. Arch. t. 30. f. 5. 
Meloe cickorii, Wulf, Ins. Cap. xvii. t. i. f. 4 a, b ; f. 
6 a, b ; f. 3 a, b. —This is another large insect avail¬ 
able for medicinal purposes. 
M. Africana, Oliv.; villous, black; elytra rather 
tawny, with tw T o discoidal spots, and two in com¬ 
mon at the suture, the base of the suture, and the 
Third Series, No. 06. 
apex black.—Oliv. Ent. iii. t. 2. f. 21; Billb. Mon. 
t. vi. f. 8. IyIcIoc 10-punctata, var. a, Thunb. N. Sp. 
f. 7. 
All of these possess vesicatory properties there 
can scarcely be any doubt, but w r e have not been 
able to learn whether any of them have been so 
employed. Other species occur in other parts of 
Africa, and elsewdiere in the Old World, to which 
w r e need not specially refer, as they are rather of 
entomological than pharmacological interest. 
Allied to Mylabris, and placed by entomologists 
in the same group, is Cerocoma, of wliich one species 
is employed. 
Sch.effer’s Cerocoma, Cerocoma Schcefferi, Fabr. ; 
green, antennee and feet yellowish.—Fabr. Syst. El. 
ii. p. 71; Panz. 96, f. 11; ScluefF. Icon. t. 53, f. 8 , 9; 
Moq.-Tand. Med. Zool. p. 135, fig. 33. Meloe 
Schcefferi , Linn. Syst. ed. xii. p. 081. Cerocoma 
viridis, Fourc. Ent. Par. p. 103. 
This insect is from five to seven lines in length. 
It is minutely pubescent, and of a golden green 
colour; the head is small, and with the thorax of a 
darker colour. The antennae and feet are tawny- 
yellow. The elytra are the same length as the ab¬ 
domen and very flexible. 
It lives on composite and umbelliferous plants in 
most parts of Europe, -especially the south, burying 
itself amongst the flow T ers, and is an active flyer. 
Moquin-Tandon includes this amongst the few 
vesicants enumerated by him in his medical zoology. 
There are several other species belonging to the 
same genus found in France, Spain and the East, 
but their vesicatory properties have not been inves¬ 
tigated. 
Part IV. European Canthariue. 
The second family of vesicants contain the Can - 
tharulce, and the few European species belong to 
tw 7 o genera, Lydus and Lytta. The former of these 
includes two species, both of which were at one time 
classed with Mylabris, and will now serve as a link 
to unite the Chinese flies and their allies to the 
European blistering-fly and its associates. We need 
not enter here upon the technical characters and 
distinctions of these genera. 
Immaculate Lydus, Lydus Algiricus, Mars. ; sub- 
villous, black; elytra tawny or 
brick-red, unspotted.—Mars. Mem. 
Lyons, 1858. p. 133. Mylabris Al- 
girica , Fabr. Syst. El. ii. p. 28 ; Oliv. 
iii. T. i. f. 5 ; Billb. Mon. t. vii. f. 11. 
Meloe Algirica, Linn. S. N. xii. p. 051. 
Lytta Indica, Herbst, Arch. vi. p. 147, 
t. 30. f. 3. 
Head yellowish, somewdiat hairy, 
black, punctate. Thorax scarcely 
longer than broad, yellowish, some¬ 
wdiat hairy, black, punctate. Scutel¬ 
lum black, punctate. Elytra more 
Fig. 5. — Lydus than three times as long as broad, 
Algiricus. tawny, brick-red, or pale testaceous, 
immaculate. Breast and abdomen black, with yellow¬ 
ish down punctate. Feet black, somewhat hairy. 
Native of Italy and Africa. As far as w r e can 
judge this is the species which Moquin-Tandon 
alludes to (Med. Zool. p. 137) under the name of 
Meloe Algeria, L., which inhabits Sardinia, and 
which, he states, has been recommended as a vesi¬ 
cant. There is no doubt of its possessing vesicatory 
