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**Mylabris (Bānmáo)**

Pungent, cold, toxic. It primarily treats alternating chills and fever, Guizhu (a highly contagious disease attributed to ghosts), Gu poison (poisoning from gu worms), Shulou (cervical lymph node tuberculosis), scabies and tinea, malignant sores, ulcerative carbuncles, necrotic tissue, breaking urinary calculi causing strangury, blood stasis, injury to muscle tissue, and inducing abortion. Also known as Longwei (Dragon's Tail). Grows in the valleys of Hedong. Harvested in August, dried in the shade. (Ma Dao serves as a guiding herb; it is incompatible with Badou (Crotonis Fructus), Danshen (Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma), and Kongqing (Azurite); it is adverse to Fuqing.)

Tao Hongjing stated: Harvest them when beans are flowering. Those with yellow and black spots on their elytra, large as Croton seeds, are the correct ones. Ministers Yuxi and others, according to the Shuben Tujing, recorded: In July and August, beetles on soybean leaves, five or six fen long, with yellow spotted patterns on the back and black abdomen, are found everywhere today. Wu Shi stated: Banmao, also known as Banhao (pronounced ci), Longhao, Banjun, Fa, Panqiong, and Yanqing. The Shennong Bencao Jing records: Pungent. Qibo records: Salty. Tong Jun records: Toxic. Bian Que records: Sweet, highly toxic. Grows in the valleys of Henei or by waterside rocks. Yaoxing Lun records: Banmao, a guiding herb, also known as Longmiao, highly toxic. It can treat Luoli (scrofula) and promote free urination. Rihua Zi stated: Dislikes the bean-flowering season. Treats Lin disorder (dysuria), applies to malignant sores to cause suppuration. For medicinal use, remove wings and feet, stir-fry until cooked. Raw application causes vomiting and diarrhea in humans.

Tujing states that Banmao grows in Hedong valleys and is now found everywhere. In July and August, when soybeans are lush, these insects are mostly on the leaves, five or six fen long, with yellow and black spotted patterns on the shell, black abdomen, pointed beak, and size like a Croton seed. Pick them from the leaves and dry in the shade. Ancient prescriptions often used this herb; the character is sometimes written as "Banli" or "Banhao." It must not be used raw in medicine, as raw application causes vomiting and diarrhea.

*Waitai Miyao* emergency treatment for carbuncles and swelling: Take one Mylabris, crush it, draw a rice-grain pattern on the sore with a needle, then apply and seal it; the root will then emerge. Another prescription for dry tinea with perennial crusts, where scratching yields yellow fluid and itching occurs during rainy weather: Use half liang of Mylabris, lightly stir-fried and powdered, mixed with honey for topical application. *Jingyan Fang* powerful internal resolution formula for adult and pediatric scrofula: One liang of Mylabris, wings and feet removed, stir-fried with one sheng of millet until the millet turns scorched yellow. Discard the millet, finely powder the Mylabris, mix with four liang of dried Mint powder until uniform. Form pills the size of mung beans using egg white. Take one pill on an empty stomach with strong tea, increasing to five pills, then decrease by one pill daily until reaching one pill, after which take five pills daily. *Zhouhou Fang* for sandfly toxin: Two Mylabris; one powdered and taken internally; one burned until smoke ceases, powdered, and applied topically to the sore. Immediate recovery. *Guangli Fang* for chronic scrofula unresponsive to treatment: One Mylabris, wings and feet removed, lightly roasted, swallowed on an empty stomach with one cup of fermented grain water, aided by honey water. Severe cases resolve within seven pills. Another prescription for induced abortion when the fetus is dead or non-viable in pregnancy: Burn Mylabris to ash/powder, take one pill, and the fetus will be expelled.

*Yanyi* states: Mylabris must be stir-fried in glutinous rice until the rice turns yellow. Pregnant women must not take it, as it can erode human flesh. It is frequently used in formulas for treating Lin disorders due to its extreme bitterness; users should exercise particular caution. The following entry, Yuanqing (Lytta vesicatoria var. grossa), has similar uses, so it is appended here.