(entomology) , a genus of coleopterous insects, formerly also taken to include aphids.
1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.5:The Cantharides have some part in them, which by a contrarietie of nature serveth as an antidot or counterpoison against their poison ....
Spanish fly, a vesicant extracted from the beetle (alternatively classified Cantharis vesicatoria), popularly held to have aphrodisiac properties.
1926, Hope Mirrlees, Lud-in-the-Mist (Ch. 26):I can make the most subtle sauces yield up their secret--whether it be white arsenic, rosalgar, mercury sublimate, or cantharides.
1964, Anthony Burgess, Nothing Like The Sun:Speaking her name, it was as if he spake pure cantharides. ‘Quick,’ she panted. ‘There is time before they are all about. Again.’
1992, Will Self, Cock and Bull:It’s lucky that Carol had taken the precaution of obtaining some cantharides; without them the evening might have been a dead loss.
2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 612:Basically Louis's drug dealer and pimp, Richelieu, known for opium recipes to fit all occasions, is also credited with the introduction into France of the cantharides, or Spanish fly.----
