December 23, 1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
503 
the Coromandel coast—are eaten either roasted or 
boiled, the skins being rubbed off between a cloth; 
they are said to taste like potatoes. Sometimes they 
are dried in the sun and ground into flour, from 
which bread and other articles of food are made. 
Stewed, or used in curries, they are also reputed to 
be very good. 
Cyperus rotunclus, L. (C. hexastachys, Rottl.), is 
another Indian species, common in moist localities 
throughout the empire; the tubers of which are about 
the size of a pigeon’s egg, and are sold in the bazaars; 
they are white, friable and spongy, having a sweet, 
aromatic odour, and a bitter, balsamic and resinous 
taste. They are used by perfumers on account of 
their fragrance, and by native practitioners as a 
tonic and stimulant, and in cases of cholera. In a 
fresh state they are employed for making an infusion, 
which is given as a demulcent in fevers, and in cases 
of dysentery and diarrhoea. 
An account is given in the Calcutta Med. Pliys . 
Transactions of two cases of cholera alleged to be 
home, and presented them to the chemical collection 
of the Polytechnic School at Delft. 
If wintergreen oil is really in great request by 
certain manufacturers, I suppose it would be made 
with profit in Java from C. 'punctata. 
As Zwenger found quinic acid in the leaves of 
Vaccinium Myrtillus, I supposed that both the spe¬ 
cies of Gaultheria mentioned as belonging to the 
same natural family, might contain the same acid. 
Therefore, after distilling the oils, I examined the 
residue in the still, and found the expected quinic 
acid, as was proved by its deviation of the plane of 
polarization to the left and by the production of liy- 
drochinon, if treated with manganese and sulphuric 
acid. 
VESICATING INSECTS. 
BY M. C. COOKE, M.A. 
(Continued from page 424.) 
successfully treated with them. 
The entire plant is much relished by cattle, and 
liogs are very fond of the roots. 
The roots of C. odoratus, L., have a warm and 
strongly aromatic flavour, and are used in native 
practice as a stomachic; those of C. pertenuis, Roxb., 
are likewise aromatic, and are used when dried and 
powdered by Indian ladies for cleaning and perfum¬ 
ing the hair; they are also regarded as diaphoretic 
and diuretic. Cyperus repens , Ell., is cultivated 
about Charleston, and the sweet roots are largely 
sold as an edible under the name of grass nut. C. 
hydra, Mx., has become a great pest in some parts 
of the southern States of America; the plant is in no 
way useful, but is very difficult to eradicate. 
G. esculentus, L., is perhaps the best known of all 
the species; the tubers, which are mealy, have a very 
aromatic and agreeable flavour, and are used as food 
in the South of Europe; they are called by the 
French, “ Amande de terre .” In Madrid, during the 
hot weather, they are a regular article of trade, and 
are sold under the name of Chufas, for making a 
cooling drink; for this purpose they are soaked for 
two days in water, after which they are powdered, 
and the liquid strained off and frozen, the result 
being a most pleasant and refreshing drink. 
OIL OF WINTERGREEN. 
BY DR. J. E. DE VRY. 
In reading the note on “ Oil of Andromeda Lesche- 
naultii” on page 235 of this Journal, I supposed it 
would be of some interest to publish some experi¬ 
ments on a similar subject which I made in 1859 
when I was in Java. The presence of large num¬ 
bers of Gaultheria punctata and Gaultheria leuco- 
carpa on the tops of many volcanoes of that island 
having attracted my attention, I collected the leaves 
of both of them on the extinct volcano Patoea, with 
the view of ascertaining the amount of essential oil 
to be extracted from them by distillation. 
05 pounds of fresh leaves from G. leucocarpa 
yielded 40 grams of oil, amounting to about 0'012 
per cent. 
59 pounds of fresh leaves from G. punctata yielded 
340 grams of oil, amounting to about 1T5 per cent. 
Both these oils are almost identical with the Ame¬ 
rican wintergreen oil, as I found them to consist 
chiefly of methyl-salicylic acid. I brought them 
North American Cantharides. 
Fig. 9.— 
Lytta atrata 
Black Blister-Fly, Lytta atrata , Oliv.; entirely 
black and immaculate.—Oliv. Ent. t. 2. 
f. 19 ; Durand, Journ. Phil. Col. Pliarm. 
ii. p. 274. f. 7 ; Wood and Baclie, Disp. 
U.S. (1867) p. 206; Harris, Injurious 
Insects (1862) p. 139. f. 64. Lytta 
atrata, Fabr. Sys. p. 260; Brandt and 
Ratzb. ii. t. xviii. f. 9. Cantharis penn- 
sylvanica, De Geer, Mem. v. t. 13. f. 1. 
Epicauta pennsylvanica, Leconte, Cat. 
Col. U.S. 
Found in North America, Carolina 
and Pennsylvania. 
The black Cantharis is smaller than the other in- 
ligenous species, but resembles C. marginata in 
igure. Its length is only four or five lines. It is 
listinguislied by its size and its uniform black colour, 
[t frequents more especially the different species of 
Aster and Solidago, though it is found also on Pru- 
lella vulgaris, Ambrosia trifida, and some other 
plants. Mr. Durand met with considerable numbers 
>f this insect near Philadelphia in the month of 
September; and they continued to appear till the 
niddle of October. They are common in the Northern 
md Middle States, but are not confined exclusively 
;o this country, being found also in Barbary. Drs. 
Jswood and Harris, of New England, satisfactorily 
iscertained their vesicating powders. They are pro¬ 
bably identical with the insect noticed as vesicatory 
iy Professor Woodhouse, under the name of Meloe 
mger. . . 
This species is thus noticed by Harris in Ins ‘ In¬ 
sects Injurious to Vegetation.’ 
“ About the middle of August and during the rest 
of this and the following month, a jet-black Can¬ 
tharis may be seen on potato-vines, and also on the 
blossoms and leaves of various kinds of golden-rod 
{Solidago altissima), which seems to be its favourite 
food, in some places it is as plentiful in potato 
fields as the striped and margined Cantharis, and by 
its serious ravages has often excited attention. 
These three kinds, in fact, are often confoimded under 
the common name of potato flies ; and it is still more 
remarkable that they are collected for medical use, 
and are sold in our shops by the name of C. vittata , 
without a suspicion of their being distinct from each 
other. The black Cantharis or C. atrata is totally 
