122 HONEY. 



opinions and observations of the distinguished Natu- 

 ralist alluded to, is, that he applies the term honey- 

 dew, not to the saccharine fluid that transudes through 

 the leaves of certain trees, but exclusively to the ex- 

 crementitious matter deposited on them by the aphi- 

 des. Assuming, then, that there are two kinds of 

 honey-dew, one only of which is spoken of by Curtis, 

 the following appears to us to be the rationale of the 

 matter. Honey-dew, in whatever mode obtained, is 

 the saccharine juice or sap of vegetables, indispens- 

 able to their vitality. During extreme heats it exudes 

 through the pores of the upper surface of the leaves. 

 In this state it may be exhaled during the sultry heat 

 of the day, and fall again in the form of condensed 

 vapour in the night ; while what is secreted near the 

 time of sunset remains on the leaves till the follow- 

 ing morning. And, further, this same vegetable juice 

 is extracted by another process besides the perspira- 

 tory, namely, by the sucker of the aphis inserted 

 into the tender bark of the tree, or into the footstalks 

 of the leaves, and conveyed through the insect's sys- 

 tem, and finally discharged almost in its primitive 

 purity, from the abdomen, in liquid jets, unless there 

 are ants at hand. In that case, the precious juice is 

 sucked in by the last-named insects, with an eager- 

 ness which strongly testifies their sense of its rich- 

 ness.* 



* See P. Huberts Researches concerning Ants. 

 Since the above was written, the author has met with the fol- 

 lowing confirmation of his opinion as to the origin of Honey- 

 dew, in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, No. 44, March 

 1 839, from the pen of an intelligent contributor to that work ; 



