HONEY. 117 
the aphides. In order to give all sides a hearing, we will 
cite a letter from Mr. Bonnier on this subject, and leave 
the reader to draw his own conclusions: 
“Plant lice are seen even on trees that have no extra floral 
nectaries. They do not produce exudations (properly speaking), 
but bore the tissues to eat the contents. ‘Their presence on the 
plant has no connection with that of the nectar. ‘The excremen- 
tal liquid of aphides is not equally sweet in all the species, and 
the bees harvest only that which is very sweet. They generally 
prefer the true honey-dew (miellée), which exudes from the leaves 
at certain times, and contains mannite and saccharine matter. 
_“T have seen bees, however, harvesting the sweet liquid of the 
aphides and the true miellée at the same time, on the aspen, maple, 
and sycamore. 
“T have rarely seen the extra floral nectar of the special nec- 
taries overflow and run in drops, but the true miellée of trees may 
fall in small drops, and some observers conclude, from this fact, 
that it is produced by aphides. I have often seen some trees, and 
even all the trees, of a timber, covered with an abundant miellée, 
falling in small drops, although there was not a single louse on 
the higher limbs. 
“To sum up, we must not confound the three kinds of sweet 
liquid, which may be produced outside the flowers: ist, The 
extra-floral nectar proper, produced, like the nectar of flowers, 
from special sugar tissues; 2d, The true miellée, produced on the 
surface of the leaves of trees or shrubs, without the action of 
aphides ; 8d, The excretion, more or less sweet, sometimes con- 
taining very little sugar, abundantly produced by a great num- 
ber of aphides.” 
260. In some blossoms, as in the red clover, the corolla 
is so deep and narrow, that the nectar is out of reach of the 
honey-bee. -Larger insects, such as the bumble-bee, or 
smaller ones, aS some wasps, enjoy it to the exclusion of 
our favorites. Yet in some seasons, we have seen bees 
working on red-clover bloom, and have attributed this to 
the corollas being shorter, owing to drouth, or scant growth. 
Mr. Bonnier has discovered that, in some such flowers, the 
nectar is sometimes so abundant that the bees can reach 
it. It is true that insects, and even bees, can tear the 
