74 HONEY-DEW. 



The other kind of honey-dew which is derived 

 from the aphis, appears to be the favourite food 

 of ants, and is thus spoken of by Messrs. KIRBY 

 and S PENCE, in their late valuable Introduction to 

 Entomology. " The loves of the ants and the 

 aphides have long been celebrated ; 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 examine more closely, you will discover 

 that the object of the ants, in thus attending upon 

 the aphides, is to obtain the saccharine fluid se- 

 creted by them, which may well be denominated 

 their milk. This fluid, which is scarcely inferior 

 to honey in sweetness, issues in limpid drops from 

 the abdomen of these insects, not only by the or- 

 dinary passage, but also by two setiform tubes 

 placed, one on each side, just above it. Their 

 sucker being inserted in the tender bark, is with- 

 out 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." The power of 

 ejecting the fluid from their bodies, seems to have 

 been wisely instituted to preserve cleanliness in 

 each individual fly, and indeed for the preserva- 



