Honey-Dew. 107 



as toothsome a morsel as it is to Coccinella, and would be 

 as eagerly hunted for by them were it not for this matter of 

 sweets. . 



Way back in the history of time, things were perhaps differ- 

 ent from what they are now. Aphis was then a racy tidbit, 

 and shared, no doubt, the murderous assaults of Formica, as 

 it did of other carnivores. 



For ages this may have been going on, but how long 

 conjecture only can tell. But there came a time when affairs 

 were changed. A new order of things was initiated. Earth 

 was growing better and impressing new features upon its life. 

 An Ant, more wise than any of its fellows, or any that had ever 

 lived before, doubtless stepped upon the scene, and a new era 

 for Aphis inaugurated. 



Finding by accident, or otherwise, the delightful qualities 

 of aphis-excretion, it would not be slow to communicate the 

 information to its companions. And as news travels rapidly, 

 and ants are by no means reticent creatures, but a short 

 time would be necessary to carry it everywhere, till all the 

 families, near and remote, of the great world of the Formi- 

 cidae would be made acquainted with the important 

 discovery. 



Now, as ants are endowed with a high degree of intelli- 

 gence, considering the position they occupy in the grand 

 scale of created existences, they would soon perceive that 

 their highest good would be attained by taking under their 

 protection the little creatures which are the authors of this 

 excretion. From this time the ants would begin to abandon 

 their sanguinary propensities and manifest some regard for 

 the aphides. The latter, in return, perceiving the former's 

 friendly disposition, would cease to fear them, and learn to 

 cater to their wants. Thus would be developed, in time, 

 those amicable relations which subsist between the two 

 great, yet widely differentiated, families. 



