Aphides^ Nectar and Ho7tey Dew. 335 



sweets. This louse is the Lachnus dentatiis of Le Baron, 

 and the Aphis salicti of Harris. 



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 Lachnus. 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 w^ould 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 HONBY 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 



