HONETDEW. 19 



rapidly expands like a soap-bubble, and then, suddenly 

 breaking, falls in spray on the leaf beneath." I should 

 consider this " cylindrical tube " only as a part of the 

 anal opening, and not as a special organ of secretion. 

 I have only once seen a Coccid a young adult female 

 of Lecanium ciliatum in the act of secreting honey- 

 dew, when the act was involuntary, and undoubtedly 

 caused by bringing light pressure to bear upon the 

 back of the insect. A cylindrical tube was exserted, 

 and a comparatively large drop of fluid appeared 

 exactly in the way Mr. Maskell has described. 



Shortly after the honeydew has been deposited upon 

 the plants it is almost invariably attacked by a micro - 

 fungus, well known to gardeners and horticulturists as 

 the " soot fungus " or " black smut " (Meliola, sp.), the 

 mycelium and spores of which rapidly penetrate every 

 part of the honeydew, converting it into a thin black 

 layer or soot-like deposit. It is true the fungus does 

 not penetrate the plant tissues or set up any disease in 

 them, but the appearance of the fungus upon peaches 

 and nectarines, or upon tender hairy -leaved plants, is 

 unsightly if not injurious, and is much dreaded by 

 cultivators of fruits and flowers, and the remedy for 

 which lies in the destruction of the Coccids. 



I should say the honeydew is as attractive to nectar- 

 feeding insects, and especially the aculeate Hymenop- 

 tera, as that of the Aphides. I may especially mention 

 the hive bee (Apis mellifica), Bombux, spp., Andrena, 

 spp., Halictus, spp., and, with the exception of V. crabro, 

 every member of the Vespidde, including many 

 examples of the rare V. arborea, Sm. The foregoing 

 observations were chiefly made in the gardens of 

 Mr. Alfred 0. Walker, Nant-y-glyn, Colwyn Bay, N. 

 Wales, who with myself, during the years 1884 

 1886, made many interesting captures, the exact 

 spot being a warm sloping bank some fifteen to 

 twenty yards long, which was practically covered with 

 Cotoneaster microphylla, almost every branch of which 

 harboured colonies of the common brown scale of the 



