FLASHLIGHTS ON NATURE 



THE COWS THAT ANTS MILK 



DON'T let my title startle you ; it was Linnieus 

 himself who iirst invented it. Everybody 

 knows the common little " j^reen-flies " or 

 "plant-lice" that cluster thick on the shoots of 

 roses ; and most people know that these trouble- 

 some small insects (from the human point of view) 

 are the true source of that shining sweet juice, 

 rather slimv and clammy, that covers so m;uiy 

 leaves in warm summer weather, and is com- 

 monly called honey -dew. A good many people 

 have heard, too, that ants use the tiny green crea- 

 tures in place of cows, coaxing them with their 

 feelers so as to make them yield up the sweet and 

 nutritious juice which is the ants' substitute for 

 butter at breakfast. But comparatively few are 

 aware how strange and eventful is the brief life- 

 history of these insignificant little beasts which we 

 destroy by the thousand in our flower-gardens or 

 conservatories with a sprinkle of tobacco -water. 



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