Insects vulgarly called Spanish flies: they are chiefly used on account of their vesicating or blistering properties. The insect is about two-thirds of an inch in length and one-fourth in breadth, oblong, and of a gold shining colour, with soft wing sheaths, marked with three longitudinal stripes, and covering brown membranous wings. The genuine cantharides are sometimes mixed with other insects of a square form, with black feet, which possess no vesicating property.