Aphides, Nectar and Honey Dew. 335 
sweets. This louse is the Lachnus dentatus of Le Baron, 
and the Aphis salicti of Larris. 
The past summer I have received from apiarists of Indiana 
and Ohio, a very large, dark gray plant louse which worked 
on the sycamore, and is reported from both states as keep- 
ing the bees actively employed for some weeks. This louse 
is one-fourth of an inch long. The winged lice measure 
three-eighths of an inch to the tips of their wings. The 
veins of the wings, as also the short nectaries—the tubes at 
the posterior part of the abdomen—show that this louse 
(Fig. 141) belongs to the genus Laclinus. The lice of the 
genus Aphis—-of which there are innumerable species—have 
longer nectaries- (Fig. 142), from which ooze large drops 
of nectar. This is much relished by the ants, which often 
care for these lice as tenderly as for their own young. 
Doubtless many have supposed that the bees were gath- 
ering a real honey dew, when closer inspection would have 
shown that some species of plant lice was wholly responsi- 
‘ble. I think that very often this nectar from plant lice is 
entirely wholesome and unobjectionable. I would, how- 
ever, never consider it a safe food for bees in winter, unless 
it was agreeable to my taste, and fit for my own table. 
REAL HONEY DEW. 
Bees also get, in some regions, a sort of honey-dew, 
which enables them to add to their stores with surprising 
rapidity. I remember one morning while riding on horse- 
back along the Sacramento river, in California, I broke off 
a willow twig beside the road when, to my surprise, I 
found it was fairly decked with drops of honey. Upon 
further examination I found the willow foliage was abund- 
antly sprinkled by these delicious drops. These shrubs 
were undisturbed by insects, nor were they. under trees. 
Here then was a real case of honey-dew, which must have 
been distilled through the night by the leaves. I never 
saw any such phenomenon in Michigan, yet others have. 
Dr. A. H. Atkins, an accurate and conscientious observer, 
has noted this honey-dew more than once, here in Central 
Michigan. Many bee-keepers have noticed the same thing. 
Many plants, like the cotton and cow pea (Fig. 143) of 
