140 INTERNAL ANATOMY OF INSECTS. 



Ray mentions a locust taken in Spain which emits a yel- 

 low oleaginous fluid from between the claws of its fore 

 legs a ; but the precise nature of these substances has 

 not been ascertained, nor whether they are secreted by 

 peculiar organs. 



vi. Milk. A milky fluid is produced by the larva of 

 Chrysomela Populi. Willughby observed a similar effu- 

 sion from pores in the upper surface of the body of Aci- 

 lius sulcatus; and other insects emit it from other parts 

 of their body 5 . 



vii. Honey. It is certain that honey is not an animal 

 secretion ; yet the saccharine matter collected from the 

 nectaries of flowers, from which it is derived, seems to 

 undergo some alteration in the stomach ; for the con- 

 sistence of honey is greater than that of any vegetable 

 nectar, and its taste does not vary greatly, while that of 

 the nectar in different plants is probably not the same. 

 Reaumur also has observed, that each honey-cell in a 

 bee^hive is always covered by a cream-like layer of a 

 thicker consistence than the rest, which apparently serves 

 to prevent the more liquid honey, which from time to 

 time is introduced under it, from running out e . Now 

 if honey were the unaltered nectar of plants, it is diffi- 

 cult to conceive how this cream could be collected in 

 proper proportions. The last-mentioned naturalist like- 

 wise ascertained, that if bees, in a season in which the 

 fields afford a scarcity of food, be supplied with sugar, 

 they will from this substance fill their cells with honey 

 which differs in no respect from the common sort, ex- 

 cept that its flavour is a little heightened' 1 : a similar 



a Rai. Hist. Ins. 62. b VOL. II. p. 242. 248. Rai. Hist. 



Ins. 94, 382. lleaum. v. 448. d Ibid. v. 722. 



