84 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Honey and honeydew 



The superabundance of plant lice was not without its effect 

 upon the apiarist and his products. Honeydew was so abund- 

 ant that the bees gathered it very largely and in some localities 

 produced a considerable quantity of honey which, under a strict 

 interpretation of the Pure Food Law, could hardly be considered 

 as pure honey, since the latter is held to be the modified nectar 

 or natural sweets of the blossom and not a saccharine excretion 

 from some other insect. Furthermore, the product elaborated 

 from honeydew is not considered a desirable winter food for bees, 

 though it can be safely employed in the spring for brood rearing. 



Near the posterior extremity of most plant lice there is a pair 

 of conspicuous processes very generally termed honey tubes, 

 and by many supposed to be the organs from which the honey- 

 dew, so prevalent on aphid infested foliage, is produced. It is 

 well known that drops of liquid may appear upon these organs, 

 which might more properly be termed cornicles rather than honey 

 tubes, since the latter designation is misleading, as is shown by 

 the investigations of Professor Horvath, who states, according 

 to an abstract prepared by Mr Bueno, that when " an ant strokes 

 an aphis with its antennae a clear drop appears always at the 

 end of the abdomen whilst the cornicles excrete nothing. On 

 the other hand, if an aphis be picked up in the fingers, or if it 

 be touched with a straw, a tiny drop at once appears at one or 

 both cornicles which is always colored." Honeydew must thus 

 be regarded as a waste product of the body rather than as a 

 highly elaborated secretion. Dr Horvath concludes that the 

 *' cornicles of the aphids are the excretory canals of wax-pro- 

 ducing glands differentiated in a special manner and the product 

 of which is a means of defense against the Coccinellidae and the 

 Chrysopidae." 



Climate and plant lice 



It is evident to even the most casual observer, that delicate, 

 nearly helpless insects like plant lice, feeding almost unpro- 

 tected upon the foliage of various trees, must be more or less 

 susceptible to climatic conditions. This is well substantiated by 

 the behavior of various species. The remarkable abundance of 

 these small insects the past year was comparable only with the 

 outbreaks of 1897 and 1903, years distinguished by the super- 

 abundance of these pests. Observation and weather records 

 show a distinct correlation between a low, unseasonable tem- 



