The Spanish Fly is also known as the blister beetle and secrets a caustic substance which can easily produce blisters. This substance is called cantharidin and it is this which is reputed to be the aphrodisiac substance and not the spanish fly itself, although as a matter of the traditional way of obtaining the notorious cantharidin is not to collect or to extract it, but to go and gather the beetles and then to crush them into a powder. This powder is still known as Spanish Fly and not cantharidin.
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