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Cantharidin¹ is a true aphrodisiac after all—except that it doesn't work in humans. Recent studies on the chemical ecology of the fire-colored beetle (Neopyrochroa flabellata—which, by the way, is not a blister beetle) show that males use cantharidin both to entice prospective mates and as a midcopulatory gift.^2-3 Males ingest exogenous cantharidin, presumably obtained from an ordinary oedermid or meliodid blister beetle, and then secrete it for display on their heads. This presentation attracts female fire-colored beetles that nibble it during copulation. The eggs that these females lay, laden with cantharidin, are better protected from predatory insects than are eggs without cantharidin. Males without a cephalic display of cantharidin are usually rejected as prospective mates.

It seems to me that any substance that can be eaten—or worn on one's head—to increase one's copulatory success deserves to be called an aphrodisiac.

Scott A. Norton, MD,MPH
Tarrytown Road
Chevy Chase, . . . [Full Text of this Article]