88 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



and that there is a connexion between them you may at 

 any time, in the proper season, convince yourself; for 

 you will always find the former very busy on those trees 

 and plants on which the latter abound : and if you ex- 

 amine more closely, you will discover that their object 

 in thus attending upon them is to obtain the saccharine 

 fluid, which may well be denominated their milk a , that 

 they secrete. 



This fluid, which is scarcely inferior to honey in sweet- 

 ness, issues in limpid drops from the abdomen of these 

 insects, not only by the ordinary passage, but also by 

 two setiform tubes placed, one on each side, just above 

 it. Their sucker being inserted in the tender bark, is 

 without intermission employed in absorbing the sap, 

 which, after it has passed through the system, they keep 

 continually discharging by these organs. When no ants 

 attend them, by a certain jerk of the body, which takes 

 place at regular intervals, they ejaculate it to a distance : 

 but when the ants are at hand, watching the moment 

 when the aphides emit their fluid, they seize and suck it 

 down immediately. This, however, is the least of their 

 talents; for they absolutely possess the art of making 

 them yield it at their pleasure ; or, in other words, of 

 milking them. On this occasion their antenna? are their 

 fingers ; with these they pat the abdomen of the aphis 

 on each side alternately, moving them very briskly; a 

 little drop of fluid immediately appears, which the ant 

 takes into its mouth, one species (Myrmica rubra) con- 

 ducting it with its antennae, which are somewhat swelled 

 at the end. When it has thus milked one, it proceeds 



* The ant ascends the tree, says Linne, that it may milk Us cows, 

 the Aphides, not kill them. Syst. Nat. 962. 3. 



