APHIDE HONEY. 275 



receive attention before we close, while rough weather 

 plays havoc with them, rainstorms sweeping them 

 away by myriads ; but, upon the supposition that no 

 casualties occur, Reaumur's figures are far too low, 

 and Tougard and Morren show that a quintillion are 

 within the efforts of a single mother ; and Professor 

 Huxley* gives the amusing calculation that, assuming 

 an Aphis to weigh yoVo§ r -> anc ^ a man 2851b. — i.e., 

 2,000,000 grains — then, the tenth brood of one parent, 

 without adding the products of all the generations 

 which precede the tenth, would contain more ponder- 

 able substance than 500,000,000 of such men — i.e., 

 more than the whole population of China. 



Entomologists formerly thought that the production 

 of the male which consorted with the female was 

 brought about in anticipation of the close of the 

 season, so that the wintering egg might be produced ; 

 but this does not appear to be accurate, and recent 

 observations show that viviparous reproduction may be 

 continued during several seasons, but that, at length, 

 recourse to a new infusion of vitality by ordinary 

 sexual means becomes necessary. A scarcity of food 

 tends to the formation of winged females (A), capable 

 of repairing to new pastures. These are invariably 

 viviparous, while the wingless females may be either 

 oviparous (B) or viviparous (C), from which it is 

 noticeable that the larva is expelled tail foremost. 



Ants are particularly fond of the sweetish exudation 

 of the nectary, and they frequent the haunts of the 

 Aphis, beating on the sides of the insects with their 

 antennae, when the liquid is at once driven out, as 



* Huxley " On Organic Reproduction of Aphis." 



Z 2 



