322 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[October 21,1871. 
case insects entirely inert have been used as adul¬ 
terants. 
Lucerne Blister Fly, Lytta dubia, Oliv.; black; 
bead rufous, with a black line; thorax and elytra 
immaculate, margin of elytra ash-coloured.—Oliv. 
Ent. iii. t. 1. f. 7. Cantharis rufidorsum, Goeze, 
Ent. Beytr. 1777. Mcloe algiricus, Sulz. Hist. Ins. 
t. 7. f. 12. 
Found on the Lucerne and other plants in the 
South of France, Italy, the Levant and Southern 
Siberia. 
About the size of Lytta vesicatoria. Antenna} 
black, filiform. Head rufous, the eyes and a supe¬ 
rior longitudinal fine black. Thorax black, with a 
longitudinal impressed fine. Elytra flexible, black, 
with the lateral margin asli-coloured. Body black 
beneath and subtomentose. Feet black. 
This is not the Lytta dubia of Fabrieius, which is 
a Siberian insect, although it has been confounded 
therewith by some writers on vesicants, especially 
Moquin-Tandon, who cites it as a species employed 
in the South of France. It is unnecessary, in a 
communication like the present, to point out the 
technical distinctions between the two insects, con¬ 
founded under one specific name. Goeze’s name of 
L. rufidorsum is that under which the European 
species is best known to entomologists. 
We are not aware of any other species that is 
collected in Europe for vesicatory purposes. 
. Asiatic Cantharides. 
Syrian Blister Fly, Lytta syriaca, Fabr.; an¬ 
tennae black; head black ; thorax ferruginous, sub¬ 
rotund ; elytra smooth, bluish-green; feet black.— 
Fabr. Sp. i. p. 329; Oliv. Ent. iii. t. i. f. 5. Alosimus 
syriacus, Mulsant, ‘ Vesicants,’ p. 151. Meloe syriacus, 
Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 680. 
Pubescent. Head black or greenish-black, orna¬ 
mented in the middle of the forehead with a puncti- 
form, yellowisli-red spot; striped with a medial line 
on the vertex. Prothorax of a yellowish or testaceous 
russet, striped with a medial line and marked with 
a dimple between that line and each of the lateral 
edges, a little behind half of its length. Elytra of a 
greenisli-blue or bluish-green; under side of the body 
of a greenisli-blue or blackish-blue. Feet black or 
greenisli-black. 
Male.—First joint of the intermediate tarsi shorter 
than the second, hardly any longer than it is broad, 
compressed, and dilated underneath in an almost 
equal manner, separated underneath the tibice by a 
deep furrow. Last arch of the belly cut in or split 
as far as half its length. 
Female.—First joint of the intermediate tarsi 
longer than broad, regular and not dilated. Last 
ventral arch entire or barely indented. 
Moquin-Tandon cites this as an economic species, 
on the authority of Forskal. It is also quoted by 
Pereira. 
Arabian Blister Fly, Lytta segetum, Fabr.— 
Fabr. Ent. Syst. i. 2. p. 84; Lucas, Expl. Alg. t. 34. 
f. 3. 
Arabia, Sicily, Algeria. 
Parallel. Upper side of the body bristling with a 
very short asli-coloured down; varying from a half 
golden green or blue to violet or violet-black. Head 
and prothorax marked with tolerably large and close 
dots, the former without any traces of a medial line. 
Antenme black; first joint green, fourth and tenth 
joints a little longer than broad. Prothorax enlarged 
for two-fiftlis of its length, then parallel; truncated, 
and until a narrow border at the base, not so long 
as broad, generally marked with a dimple or furrow. 
Elytra at least once longer than they are broad to¬ 
gether, almost semi-cylindrical. Tarsi blackish, the 
first joint of the posterior a little shorter than the 
two following together. 
Male.—Last ventral arcli cut in as far as one-lialf 
its length. 
Female.—Last ventral arch entire, or scarcely «■<> 
all indented. 
This insect is also named bv Moquin-Tandon as 
one of those employed as Q vesicant. 
( 2 if be continued.) 
THE PURIFICATION OF FATS AND SUETS. 
The task that devolved upon the authorities of . 
Paris during the late siege of that city by the Ger¬ 
mans, of obtaining food for the many thousands who 
were cut off by the iron circle of their enemies from 
their usual sources of supply, was a difficult, and, as 
the event proved, an impossible one. Towards its 
accomplishment, however, great efforts were put 
forth by French savans, and for a time the whole 
current of scientific investigation was turned towards 
securing ificreased effectiveness in warlike weapons, 
the enforcement of the sanitary regulations best 
suited to the abnormal state of affairs, and the dis¬ 
covery and utilization of previously unknown or 
unused alimentary substances. 
Among the many memoirs presented to the French 
Academy with the last-mentioned object, were some 
that treated of a subject not without interest to 
pharmacists,—the purification of fats and suets>—of 
which the following is a resume. 
M. A. Boillot communicated a method which he 
stated had yielded excellent results, and for which 
he claimed the merits of simplicity and moderate 
cost.* Two litres of lime-water is added to one kilo¬ 
metre of the fat or suet, mixed well together, and 
kept over the fire two or three hours. It is then 
left to cool, and, when it has become pasty and ac¬ 
quired a sufficient consistence, it is decanted, placed 
in flannel or linen, and submitted to an increasing 
pressure, when water and oleic acid, containing be¬ 
sides some solid fatty acids, from which it can 
readily be freed afterwards, passes through. The 
oily mass, after two or three days, acquires a white¬ 
ness which leaves nothing to be desired ; and when 
freed from the little lime that it contains by treating 
it with water slightly acidulated with sulphuric acid, 
may be used for purposes of illumination. Fat thus 
prepared loses its bad odour, and acquires a remark¬ 
able hardness and whiteness ;f and if run into water 
to which a small quantity of sulphuric or acetic acid, 
or vinegar, has been added, it will be thoroughly 
purified, and may be employed for all purposes to 
which the best fats are applied. 
M. Dubrunfaut states j that the most tainted fat 
may be deprived of its characteristic odour by sub¬ 
mitting it to the operation of frying; and that, after 
* Comptes Rendus, lxxii. 36. 
f The use of lime for the purpose of blanching lard has 
already been reported from America. There, however, it ap¬ 
pears to be left as an impurity in the lard. See Piiailxi. 
Journ. 1st ser. Vol. I. p. 1043. 
X Comptes Rendus, lxxii. 37. 
