View source for Spanish fly

{{otheruses2|Spanish fly}}
{{Taxobox
| color = pink
| name = Spanish Fly
| image = Lytta_vesicatoria_Spanische_Fliege_Brehms.png
| image_width = 250px
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Arthropod]]a
| classis = [[Insect]]a
| ordo = [[beetle|Coleoptera]]
| familia = [[Meloidae]]
| subfamilia = [[Meloinae]]
| tribus = [[Lyttini]]
| genus = ''[[Lytta]]''
| species = '''''L. vesicatoria'''''
| binomial = ''Lytta vesicatoria''
| binomial_authority = [[Carolus Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758
}}
{{wikispecies|Lytta vesicatoria|Spanish fly}}
The '''Spanish fly''' is an emerald-green [[beetle]] in the [[family (biology)|family]] [[Meloidae]], ''Lytta vesicatoria''.<ref>From Greek ''lytta'', rage and Latin ''vesica'', blister.</ref><ref>Other species of [[blister beetle]] used in [[apothecary]] are often called by the same name. ''Lytta vesicatoria'' is sometimes called ''Cantharis vesicatoria'', but the [[genus]] ''Cantharis'' is in an unrelated family, [[Cantharidae]].</ref> It is 15&#160;mm to 22&#160;mm long and 5&#160;mm to 8&#160;mm wide, and lives on plants in the families [[Caprifoliaceae]] and [[Oleaceae]]. The beetle contains up to 5% [[cantharidin]] which irritates animal tissues. The crushed powder of Spanish fly is of yellowish brown to brown-olive color with iridescent reflections, of disagreeable scent and bitter flavor. 

Spanish fly, or '''cantharides''' as it is sometimes called, is often given to farm animals to incite them to mating.<ref name="Gottlieb_1">{{Harv|Gottlieb|1992|p=68}}</ref> The cantharides excreted in the urine irritate the urethral passages, causing [[inflammation]] in the genitals and subsequent [[priapism]]. For this reason, Spanish fly has been given to humans for purposes of seduction. It is dangerous since the amount required is minuscule and the difference between the [[effective dose]] and the harmful dose is quite narrow. Cantharides cause painful urination, fever, and sometimes bloody discharge. They can cause permanent damage to the [[kidney]]s and genitals.

== History ==

[[Image:Collecting cantharides.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Collecting cantharides, 19th century.]]
Its medical use dates back to descriptions from [[Hippocrates]]. [[Plaster]]s made from wings of these beetles have been used to raise [[blister]]s. In [[ancient China]], cantharides beetles were mixed with human dung, [[arsenic]] and [[Aconitum|wolfsbane]] to make the world's first recorded [[stink bomb]].<ref name="Theroux_1">{{Harv|Theroux|1989|p=54}}</ref> It is also one of the world’s most well-known [[aphrodisiacs]]. In [[Roman Empire|Roman]] times, [[Livia]], the scheming wife of Augustus Caesar, would slip it into food hoping to inspire her guests to some indiscretion with which she could later blackmail them.<ref>{{cite book | title = Ancient Inventions | first = Peter | last = James | publisher = Ballantine Books | isbn = 0345401026 | year = 1995 | pages= p. 177}}</ref> [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry IV]] (1050-1106) is known to have consumed Spanish fly at the risk of his health. In 1572, the famous French surgeon [[Ambroise Paré]] wrote an account of a man suffering from "the most frightful [[Hypersexuality|satyriasis]]" after having taken a potion composed of [[nettle]]s and cantharides.<ref name="Milsten_1">{{Harv|Milsten|2000|p=170}}</ref> In the 1670s, Spanish fly was mixed with dried moles and bat's blood for a love charm made by the black magician [[La Voisin]].<ref name="Cavendish_1">{{Harv|Cavendish|1968|p=333}}</ref> It was slipped into the food of [[Louis XIV]] to secure the king's lust for [[Madame de Montespan]]. In the 18th century cantharides became fashionable, known as ''pastilles Richelieu'' in France. [[Marquis de Sade]] is claimed to have given [[aniseed]]-flavored pastilles that were laced with Spanish fly to prostitutes at an orgy in 1772. He was sentenced to death for poisoning and sodomy, but later reprieved on appeal.

Also it was used as an [[abortifacient]], stimulant (since one of its effects was producing [[insomnia]] and nervous agitation), and as a poison; in powder, mixed with the food, it could go unnoticed. ''Aqua toffana'', or ''aquetta di Napoli'', was one of the poisons associated with the [[Medicis]]. Thought to be a mixture of arsenic and cantharides, it was reportedly created by an Italian countess, Toffana. Four to six drops of this poison in water or wine was enough to deliver a painless death in a few hours.<ref name="Stevens_1">{{Harv|Stevens|1990|p=6}}</ref> 

In order to determine if a death had taken place by the effects of Spanish fly they had to resort to the ''vesicación'' test. One of those test methods consisted of rubbing part of the internal organs of the deceased, dissolved in oil, on the shaved skin of a rabbit; the absorption of the cantharides and its blistering effect are such that they became visible on the skin of the rabbit.

In [[Santeria]], catharides are used in [[incense]].<ref name="Gonzalez-Wippler_1">{{Harv|Gonzalez-Wippler|2002|p=221}}</ref>

==Commercial products==

Cantharides are illegal in the United States, except for use in [[animal husbandry]] and by licensed physicians for the topical treatment of certain types of [[wart]]s. Some internet or mail order suppliers of sex stimulants advertise such products like "Herbal Spanish fly", "Mexican Spanish Fly", or "Spanish Fly Potion". Most of these products are simply [[cayenne pepper]] in capsules, sometimes blended with the powder of [[ginseng]], [[kelp]], [[ginger]] or [[gotu kola]].<ref name="Gottlieb_2">{{Harv|Gottlieb|1992|p=19}}</ref> The products with the name "Spanische Fliege (Spanish fly)" that are available in Germany represent no danger with a normal application since they contain the active substance actually only in [[homeopathic]] dosage, diluted to be effectively non-existent.
<!--So-called "cantharides" is currently used, as a potentized ingredient of [[homeopathic medicine]]. A similar powder from ''Myalabris'' beetles (also in the [[Meloidae]]), called "vuka-vuka" (''vuka'' = wake up), is known in [[Zimbabwe]].-->

== Culinary use ==

''Dawamesk'', a spread or jam made in [[North Africa]] and containing [[hashish]], [[Almond meal|almond paste]], pistachio nuts, sugar, orange or [[tamarind]] peel, [[clove]]s and other various spices, occasionally included Spanish fly.

In [[Morocco]] and other parts of North Africa, a spice blend called ''[[Ras el hanout]]'' included cantharides in its list of ingredients at one time. However, the sale of Spanish fly in the Moroccan spice markets was banned in the [[1990s]].

== Notes ==
<div class="references-small">
<references/>
</div>

== References ==

* {{Harvard reference
 | Author=Booth, Martin
 | Last=Booth
 | First=Martin
 | Title=Cannabis: A History
 | Publisher=Picador
 | Year=2004
 | ID=ISBN 0-312-42494-9
}}.
* {{Harvard reference
 | Author=Cavendish, Richard
 | Last=Cavendish
 | First=Richard
 | Title=The Black Arts: An Absorbing Account of Witchcraft, Demonology, Astrology, and Other Mystical Practices Throughout the Ages
 | Publisher=Perigee Trade
 | Year=1968
 | ID=ISBN 0-399-50035-9
}}.
* {{Harvard reference
 | Author=Davidson, Alan
 | Last=Davidson
 | First=Alan
 | Title=The Oxford Companion to Food
 | Publisher=Oxford University Press
 | Year=1999
 | ID=ISBN 0-19-211579-0
}}.
* {{Harvard reference
 | Author=Gonzalez-Wippler, Migene
 | Last=Gonzalez-Wippler
 | First=Migene
 | Title=Santeria: The Religion
 | Publisher=Llewellyn Publications
 | Year=2002
 | ID=ISBN 1-56718-329-8
}}.
* {{Harvard reference
 | Author=Gottlieb, Adam
 | Last=Gottlieb
 | First=Adam
 | Title=Sex, Drugs, and Aphrodisiacs
 | Publisher=Ronin Publishing, CA
 | Year=1992
 | ID=ISBN 0-914171-56-9
}}.
* {{Harvard reference
 | Author=Milsten, Richard 
 | Last=Milsten
 | First=Richard 
 | Title=The Sexual Male: Problems and Solutions
 | Publisher=W. W. Norton & Company
 | Year=2000
 | ID=ISBN 0-393-32127-4
}}.
* {{Harvard reference
 | Author=Reichl, Ruth, ed.
 | Last=Reichl
 | First=Ruth
 | Title=The Gourmet Cookbook
 | Publisher=Houghton Mifflin
 | Year=2004
 | ID=ISBN 0-618-37408-6
}}.
* {{Harvard reference
 | Author=Stevens, Serita Deborah
 | Last=Stevens
 | First=Serita Deborah 
 | Title=Deadly Doses: A Writer's Guide to Poisons
 | Publisher=Writer's Digest Books
 | Year=1990
 | ID=ISBN 0-89879-371-8
}}.
* {{Harvard reference
 | Author=Theroux, Paul
 | Last=Theroux
 | First=Paul 
 | Title=Riding the Iron Rooster
 | Publisher=Ivy Books
 | Year=1989
 | ID=ISBN 0-8041-0454-9
}}.

[[Category:Beetles]]
[[Category:Abortifacients]]

[[cs:Puchýřník lékařský]]
[[da:Spansk flue]]
[[de:Spanische Fliege]]
[[es:Lytta vesicatoria]]
[[fr:Cantharide officinale]]
[[ko:물집청가리]]
[[nl:Spaanse vlieg]]
[[ja:スパニッシュフライ]]
[[no:Spansk flue]]
[[ru:Шпанская мушка]]
[[sv:Spansk fluga]]
[[zh:斑蝥]]
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