ECONOMY OF ANTS. 145 



Honey-dew, instead of being, as Pliny conjectures, 

 the saliva of the stars, or a liquid produced by the 

 purgation of the air, is a secretion deposited by 

 a small insect, which is green upon the rose-tree 

 and black upon the wood-bine, and which Entomolo- 

 gists distinguish by the generic name of Aphis. The 

 liquid they deposit is perfectly pure, and rivals either 

 sugar or honey in its sweetness. The ants not 

 only suck it up with eagerness, whenever it can be 

 found, but they possess the art of making the aphides 

 yield it, by patting them gently with their antennae ; 

 and one particular species of ant is said to confine the 

 aphides in apartments constructed solely for that pur- 

 pose, to supply them with food, to protect them from 

 danger, and to take, in ever}' respect, as much care 

 of them as we should do of our milch cattle. 



This may seem wonderful, nay, perhaps incredible. 

 But, for a full confirmation of its accuracy, and for a 

 delightful exposition of other facts not less surprising, 

 I refer you to M. P. Ruber's work on Ants, and con- 

 clude my present lengthened epistle in the words of 

 that accurate observer : — " The more the wonders of 

 nature have attractions for me, the less do I feel in- 

 clined to alter them by a mixture of the reveries of 

 imagination." 



It is probable this letter will scarcely have been 

 closed, until I shall remember some circumstance 



