When the usual methods of questioning by the death investigator proved unsuccessful, he asked all the villagers to bring their sickles and lay them out before the crowd. Flies were attracted to the tissue remains stuck to one of the sickles. The owner of the sickle subsequently confessed. Blum discloses that poisonous insects not only constitute health hazards for humans, but the substances they produce can also be manipulated so as to become dangerous intoxicative agents. An historic example is Spanish fly, which is produced by blister beetles.
Spanish fly is an aphrodisiac, which means that it heightens sexual desire.
Marquis de Sade used to give prostitutes pastilles with high concentrations of this substance, often with fatal consequences for his victims. In isolated cases this practice still occurs. Blum adds that toxicity is, of course, dosage dependent. Blum argues that Africanized bees can be guided to a source by using attractant pheromones. Synthetical equivalents are commercially available.