The Spanish Fly— The Corn-Weevil. 561 
THE SPANISH FLY, OR CANTHARIS. 
(Cantharis vesicatoria.) 
These insects are found but rarely in this country ; they 
are more common in France, but Spain, Italy, and Russia 
seem to be their favourite localities. They make their 
appearance in July, and are generally found upon ash 
trees, the leaves of which form their food. They are of 
great commercial importance, for they are found very 
useful in medicine on account of their remarkable blister- 
ing powers. They have a very disagreeable smell, and 
emit a fluid of so corrosive a nature that many persons 
have suffered greatly from gathering them ; and it is said 
to be extremely dangerous to sleep under a tree infested 
by them, as their smell produces a lethargic sleep, which 
frequently terminates in death. They are generally 
caught by laying linen cloths under the trees they 
infest, and beating the boughs ; they are then put into 
hair sieves, and held over vessels of boiling vinegar, 
till the vapour kills them. After this they are dried 
in ovens, or on hurdles, exposed to the sun, and then 
packed up for sale. When dried, fifty of them hardly 
weigh a drachm, but they do not lose their medicinal 
properties by age unless allowed to get damp. Though 
bearing the name Spanish Flies, the greatest quantity 
is obtained from St. Petersburg, the Russian insects 
being considered the best. 
They are of a highly poisonous nature, and there are 
many instances, some even recent, of their producing 
violent haemorrhage and death. 
THE CORN-WEEVIL. (Calandra granaria.) 
This is a little beetle about an eighth of an inch in 
length, of a reddish-brown colour, with a slender pro- 
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