March 16, 1872.] 
743 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
a small scale; The outlay for the necessary appa¬ 
ratus would not be large in proportion to the return 
in point of information gained. Most things may 
be accomplished on a small scale equal to the pur¬ 
poses of instruction, and quite sufficient to prepare 
a student for hearing lectures with benefit, after¬ 
wards following, it required, a more complete and 
scientific course of laboratory work : they would thus 
be prepared, as some pharmaceutical students now 
are, for more readily receiving that instruction. 
It there be any reality in what I have written, no 
pharmaceutist or student need have many unoccu¬ 
pied hours. But leisure moments are to the hard 
worker as needful as sleep ; whether those moments 
be spent in reading, in amusement, or in throwing 
stones into the sea, they are necessary to a healthy 
condition of mind and body; and I trust that the 
time is fast approaching when, upon this point, there 
will be but one opinion. For the deficiency of prac¬ 
tical knowledge in manufacturing pharmacy, I find 
fault with no one ; I simply write that which I be¬ 
lieve to be fact. That the apprentice of the future 
may have more and better opportunities of becoming 
acquainted with the details of his calling, is that 
which I truly desire. 
VESICATING INSECTS. 
BY M. C. COOKE, M.A. 
('Continued from page 703.) 
Black Brazilian Blister Fly, Lytta anthracina, 
Erich.; Gantharis anthracina, Erichson in Schom- 
burgk, Reis, in Brit. Guiana, iii. p. 566. 1848; en¬ 
tirely black; the head and thorax somewhat shining, 
the elytra dull. The head moderately thickly, dis¬ 
tinctly but somewhat finely punctured, with a well- 
marked impression on the forehead between the eyes, 
a finely impressed line runs from this impression 
over the vertex of the head. The antennae are £ 
of the length of the elytra, the first joint is short, 
the second § the length of the first, the third 
rather longer than the first and second together, the 
following joints subequal and rather shorter than 
the third joint, all the joints cylindrical. The thorax 
rather narrower than the head, subquadrate (but a 
trifle broader than long), very slightly narrower to¬ 
wards the front, where it is abruptly contracted, 
with a shallow longitudinal impression above, reach¬ 
ing to the posterior margin, but with no distinct 
fovea; the upper surface is thickly, distinctly, but 
not strongly punctured. The elytra are scarcely 
broader at the apex than at the base, each elytron 
rounded at the apex, the extreme apex slightly 
shining. The sternum and abdomen are more or 
less clothed with moderately long black pubescence. 
The anterior femora are furnished on the inner side 
with an ovate spot of golden pubescence. The ex¬ 
treme base of the first joint of the posterior tarsi is 
red-brown. (C. W.) 
Found in Brazil. Mr. H. W. Bates states that 
this is an excellent vesicant, and that when he was I 
on the Amazons a medical friend was in the habit 
of employing them for that purpose. Species of this - 
genus are very rare in Brazil, and this is the only 
one of which he had any knowledge of having been 
tested as a vesicant in the parts he visited. 
Banded Blister-fly, Lytta vittigera, Bl.; Py- 
rota vittigera, D’Orb. Voy. Entom. 200. t. 15. f. 7 ; 
yellowish ; antennae black, rufous at the base; head 
and thorax spotted with black; elytra punctate at 
the base, with a circular black band at the apex ; 
abdomen banded with black, feet tawnv; femora, 
tibiae and apex of the tarsi black. 
Native of Santa Cruz. 
Mendoza Blister-fly, Lytta viridipennis, Bunn. ; 
black ; elytra metallic green; feet yellow.— ■Gantharis 
viridipennis, Burmeister, Revista Farmaceutica 
Buenos Ayres, Jan. 1865; Pharm. Journ. ser. ii. 
vol. vi. p. 548. 
Inhabits South America. 
This, says Burmeister, is one of the largest of the 
species found in South America, and has occurred in 
Catamarca and Mendoza, and probably along the 
whole western side of the republic (La Rioja, San 
Juan), at the foot of the Cordillera. It is nearly an 
inch in length, of a black colour, with yellow feet 
and metallic-green elytra. He thinks that it is pro¬ 
bably the most efficacious of the Argentine species, 
and adds that the apothecaries of Mendoza employ 
it with very good effect. 
This completes our resume of the second group of 
Vesicants the Cantharidce. Although by no means 
certain, that we have included all the species that 
have been tested or employed, we, at least, feel as¬ 
sured that all the most important have been enume¬ 
rated. It is exceedingly probable that vesicating 
powers exist in nearly all, if not all, the species of 
the Gantharidce, of which 230 are enumerated by 
Gemminger and Herold as belonging to their genus 
Gantharis alone. 
IX. European Melof.idaE. 
The third group into which we have divided the 
vesicating beetles consists of the Meloeidce, or oil 
beetles, of which several have been employed in 
Europe, one in Asia, one in North America and at 
least four in South America. None of these are of 
commercial importance, and all seem to be inferior 
both to the Mylahridce and to the Gantharidce. Our 
notice of them will therefore be brief. 
Schaeffer’s Cerocoma, Cerocoma Schcefferi, Fabr.; 
Meloe Schcefferi, Linn.; green; antennae and feet 
yellow.—Fab. Syst. p. 262 ; Schaeff. Icon. t. 53. f. 8 r 
9 ; Oliv. Ent. n. 48. t. i. f. 1 a-d. 
Found on flowers in Europe. 
The antennae are yellowish. The head, corslet, 
the elytra and the abdomen are of a brilliant green, 
slightly pubescent; the feet are yellowish. The 
tarsi are of a darker colour. This insect is from 
five to seven lines in length, and is an active flyer. 
Moquin-Tandon includes this species in his ‘ Medical 
Zoology,’ adding, “ there are several other species 
belonging to the genus Cerocoma in France, in 
Spam and in the East, but their vesicating properties 
have not been investigated.” 
Common Oil-beetle, Meloe proscardbceus, Linn.; 
black, with a bluish tinge ; 
head and thorax punctured, 
and with their sides violet, 
the latter margined behind ; 
elytra rough; abdomen with 
a rough patch on each seg¬ 
ment ; legs and antenme vio¬ 
let, tip of latter pitchy.— 
Leach, Linn. Trans, xi. t. vii. 
f. 6, 7 ; Brandt and Ratzb 
ii. t. xvi. f. 4, 5. Proscar a - 
hceus vulgaris, Stepli. Man. 
n. 2626. P. rugicollis, Stepli. 15 .—Meloe pro - 
Man. n. 2627. scarabceus. 
