LIME OR LINDEN-TREE. 229 



shelter among the interstices of my bark. Nor is this sur- 

 prising ; for my leaves drop honey, and hence the humble- 

 bee is my constant visitor, humming at her work, and making 

 cheerful the loneliest places. And why ? because my tiny 

 friends have in general large families to support. A single 

 female aphis is often the mother of one hundred young 

 ones. She has therefore a pointed kind of proboscis, with 

 which to pierce the under surface of my leaves, and thus 

 to obtain nutriment for their support. The sweet and 

 viscous juice which exudes, in consequence, is also 

 attractive to winged insects, such as wasps and flies ; and 

 the plodding ant, who constructs her nests among my 

 roots, often ascends the trunk, in company with her rela- 

 tives, to share in the genial banquet ; but, though free to 

 all, the common bee uniformly wings her way to the frag- 

 rant flowers, she prefers extracting from them the sweet 

 juice, whereby to replenish her honey-bag. 



Listen to the author of the Georgics, when speaking of 

 his bees. He well knew how much they delighted in my 



