Floney-Dew. 107 
as toothsome a morsel as it is to Coccinella, and would be 
as eagerly hunted for by them were it not for this matter of 
sweets. 
Way back in the history of time, things were perhaps differ- 
ent from what they are now. Aphis was then a racy tidbit, 
and shared, no doubt, the murderous assaults of Formica, as 
it did of other carnivores. 
For ages this may have been going on, but how long 
conjecture only can tell. But there came a time when affairs 
were changed. A new order of things was initiated. Earth 
was growing better and impressing new features upon its life. 
An Ant, more wise than any of its fellows, or any that had ever 
lived before, doubtless stepped upon the scene, anda new era 
for Aphis inaugurated. 
Finding by accident, or otherwise, the delightful qualities 
of aphis-excretion, it would not be slow to communicate the 
information to its companions. And as news travels rapidly, 
and ants are by no means reticent creatures, but a short 
time would be necessary to carry it everywhere, till all the 
families, near and remote, of the great world of the Formi- 
cide would be made acquainted with the important 
discovery. 
Now, as ants are endowed with a high degree of intelli- 
gence, considering the position they occupy in the grand 
scale of created existences, they would soon perceive that 
their highest good would be attained by taking under their 
protection the little creatures which are the authors of this 
excretion. From this time the ants would begin to abandon 
their sanguinary propensities and manifest some regard for 
the aphides. The latter, in return, perceiving the former’s 
friendly disposition, would cease to fear them, and learn to 
cater to their wants. Thus would be developed, in time, 
those amicable relations which subsist between the two 
great, yet widely differentiated, families. 
