Spanish fly

1. a European blister beetle, Lytta vesicatoria (family Meloidae), the dried bodies of which yield the pharmaceutical product cantharides

2. another name for cantharides

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Spanish fly

preparation made of green blister beetles and used to incite cattle to mate. [Insect Symbolism: EB, IX: 399]

See: Aphrodisiacs

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Spanish Fly

(Lytta vesicatoria), a beetle of the family Meloidae (seeMELOIDAE). The body length is 12–20 mm. The coloration is golden green. The Spanish fly is distributed in Europe and Asia. It flies on hot days in May through July; it emits a sharp, unpleasant odor. It eats the leaves of trees and shrubs, and in large numbers causes considerable damage. It deposits its eggs in the ground; the hatched larvae crawl onto flowers, from where wild bees transport them on their bodies to their own nests. The larvae eat the bees’ eggs and the honey in the honeycomb cells, then leave the nests and metamorphose into pseudopupae, which winter in the ground.

The hemolymph and sexual organs of Spanish flies contain a toxic substance called cantharidin. Dried Spanish flies were used to prepare vesicatory plasters.

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References in periodicals archive

Although there is a very handy cast of characters at the beginning of the book, an equally helpful list, for example, would have been a glossary of alchemic or technical poisoning terms--for example, the term "cantharides" is mentioned with frequency, but never defined (it was known as "Spanish fly," a legendary aphrodisiac, but also very toxic).

The Affair of the Poisons: Murder, Infanticide, and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV

Direct assessment of peripheral pharmacokinetics in humans: comparison between cantharides blister fluid sampling, in vivo microdialysis and saliva sampling.

Fast in vivo microextraction: a new tool for clinical analysis

Spanish Fly or cantharides, if taken internally, cause excruciating irritation to the intestine and urinary tract.

Dr Miriam: Toy with your lover's passion