THE BLACK CANTHARIS. 
139 
ous kinds of golden-rod, particularly the tall golden-rod 
(^Solidago altissima)^ which seems to he its favorite food. 
In some places it is as plentiful in potato-fields as the striped 
and the margined Cantharis, and hy its serious ravages has 
often excited attention. These three kinds, in fact, are often 
confounded 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 Cantharis 
vittata^ without a suspicion of their being distinct from each 
other. The black Cantharis, or Cantharis atra- 
ta^ (Fig. 64), is totally black, without bands or 
spots, and measures from four tenths to half of an 
inch in length. I have repeatedly taken these 
insects, in considerable quantities, hy brushing or 
shaking them from the potato-vines into a broad 
tin pan, from which they were emptied into a 
covered pail containing a little water, which, by 
wetting their wings, prevented their flying out when the 
pail was uncovered. The same method may be employed 
for taking the other kinds of Cantharides, when they become 
troublesome and destructive from their numbers; or they 
may he caught by gently sweeping the plants they fi’equent 
with a deep muslin bag-net. They should he killed by 
throwing them into scalding water, for one or two minutes, 
after which they may be spread out on sheets of paper to 
dry, and may be made profitable by selling them to the 
apothecaries for medical use. 
There are some blistering beetles^ belonging to another 
genus, which seem deserving of a passing notice, not on 
account of any great injury committed by them, but be¬ 
cause they can be used in medicine like the foregoing, 
and are considered hy some naturalists as forming one of 
the links connecting the orders Coleoptera and Orthoptera. 
These insects belong to the genus Meloe^ so named, it is 
supposed, because they are of a black, or deep blue-black 
Fig. 64. 
* Lytta atrata^ Fabricius. 
