3 SI 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [November 11,1871. 
posteriorly somewhat widened. Length 6-8'". 
Breadth 21"'.” 
According to the Pharmacopoeia of India, this is 
one of the species employed there as a vesicant. It 
is also cited hy Pereira. 
Blue Blister Fly, Lytta carulea, Leuckart.— 
Geiger’s Mag. Pharm. xi. 2. 1825, p. 132. 
Inhabits Bengal. 
We have been unsuccessful in all attempts to 
meet with the portion of the magazine which con¬ 
tains the description of this insect in any London 
library. The British Museum collection does not 
contain any specimen referred to this name. Ac¬ 
cording to Leuckarfc, it is a pharmaceutical species. 
Large Blister Fly, Lytta gigas, Fabr.; dark 
violet - blue; breast 
reddish- brow n.— 
Fabr. Sys. ii. p. 77 ; 
Brandt and Batzeb. 
ii. t. xviii. f. 14, 15. 
Cantharis gig as, Oliv. 
Ent. iii. t. 1. f. 9. a. 
b. c. 
Double the size of 
C. vesicatoria. An¬ 
tennae filiform, 
bluisli-black. Body 
of a greenish-blue 
beneath, with violet 
reflections. Head 
large and inclined. 
Thorax attenuated 
anteriorly. Elytra 
Fig. 7 .—Lytta gigas. minutely punctulate, 
with three elevated 
lines. Upper surface of the body of a bluish-black, 
with a large reddish-brown spot on the breast. Feet 
long and black. 
Native of Senegal, on different plants. 
According to the Pharmacopoeia of India, it is 
found also in Central India. It is included in 
Pereira’s ‘ Materia Medica ’ as a vesicant in use. 
Sumatra Blister Fly, Lytta ruficeps , Illig.; 
black; head rufous; antennae black; elytra obtusely 
acuminate.—Illig. in Wiedem. Arch. i. p. 140; 
Brandt and Ratzeb. ii. t. xviii. f. 7; Waterh. Trans. 
Ent. Soc. 1871, p. 405. 
Inhabits Sumatra and Java. 
‘ Totally black, except the head, which is reddish- 
yellow. The clypeus is yellowish, with a transverse 
black band. Tiie labrum has a notch in the front 
margin which is yellowish; the other parts of the 
mouth are more or less fuscous. The head is polished, 
sparingly but distinctly punctured. The thorax is 
subquadrate, slightly broader in front than behind, 
abruptly contracted and rounded in front; the fore 
part is slightly impressed on each side, the whole 
surface is thickly and distinctly punctured; the disk 
has a lightly-impressed longitudinal line, which 
rims into a deep fovea at the posterior margin. The 
elytra are parallel, not narrower at the base than at 
the apex, where they diverge, and are each rounded. 
The antennae are four-fifths the length of the elytra, 
filiform; the second joint two-thirds the length of 
the first, the third a little longer than the first, the 
fourth two-thirds the length of the third; the re¬ 
maining joints gradually increasing in length, and 
tapering. Legs simple. Tarsi beneath spongy, 
fuscous. The metasternum and abdomen clothed 
with short grey-black pubescence. 
The male is rather more slender than the female. 
The antennae are longer (very nearly as long as the 
elytra), the second to eighth joints furnished until 
long hair on the lower (or inner) side; the anterior 
tibiae are furnished with long black hairs ; the inner 
side of the femora and tibiae clothed with golden 
pubescence. Length 6^-10^- lines. 
Good specimens of this insect appear, in some 
lights, to have a reddish-brown pubescence, but a 
slight alteration of the position makes it appear 
greyish.— G. O. W. 
This insect is stated, on the authority of Brandt 
and Ratzeburg, and others, to be employed as a vesi¬ 
cant in Asiatic countries. 
(To be continued.) 
PREPARATION OF DILUTED PHOSPHORIC 
ACID. 
BY E. B. SHUTTLEWORTH. 
The officinal process of the British Pharmacopoeia 
for diluted phosphoric acid is a troublesome and 
dangerous one. The use of closed glass vessels, 
when operating on an explosive substance like 
phosphorus, is attended with considerable risk, not 
only to the apparatus, but the person and property 
of the operator. The apparatus is unnecessarily 
complicated, involving the employment of a retort 
and Liebig’s condenser, while the advantage gained 
on the score of economy of acid is so trivial as to 
be practically unworthy of consideration. 
A much better process is that of the United States 
Pharmacopoeia. In this the diluted nitric acid is 
placed in a porcelain capsule; the phosphorus is 
added, and the whole covered by an inverted glass 
funnel of such dimensions that its rim rests on the 
inside of the capsule, near the surface of the liquid. 
A gentle heat is applied, and, if necessary, the 
action moderated by the addition of a little distilled 
water, which can be readily applied without in any 
way disturbing the operation. After the phosphorus 
has disappeared, the funnel is removed, and the 
concentration of the acid is effected in the same 
vessel by a further application of heat. 
As far as the apparatus is concerned, it will rea¬ 
dily be seen that the latter process is much more 
simple; the danger of explosion and fracture is al¬ 
most impossible; most of the nitric acid is condensed, 
and trickles down the funnel into the capsule, while 
the manipulation is easier, and the operation can be 
carried to completion hi the vessel in which it was 
commenced. 
In both processes, however, the nitric acid is used 
in a very dilute form. According to the experience 
of the writer, this occasions a waste of time, and is 
attended with no advantage. The action of the 
dilute acid on the phosphorus is very feeble, and, in 
operating on larger quantities,—say ten pounds of 
phosphorus,—eight or ten days are required for the 
solution. The acid need not be weaker than that of 
sp. gr. 1‘24. At tills strength there is no danger of 
explosion, or a too rapid action. After many and cau¬ 
tious trials, he has now no hesitation in operating on 
the above-named quantity of phosphorus, with a car¬ 
boy of acid of the strength named; and by so doing the 
solution may be effected hi from fifteen to tiventy 
hours. Nothing at all approaching to an explosion 
has ever occurred, but the precaution is always taken 
