122 
HONEY. 
opinions and observations of the distinguished Natu- 
ralist alluded to, is, that he applies the term honey- 
dew, not to the saccharine fluid that transudes through 
the leaves of certain trees, hut exclusively to the ex- 
crementitious matter deposited on them by the aphi- 
des. Assuming, then, that there are Uvo kinds of 
honey-dew, one only of which is spoken of by Curtis, 
the following appears to us to he the rationale of the 
matter. Honey-dew, in whatever mode obtained, is 
the saccharine juice or sap of vegetables, indispens- 
able to their vitality. During extreme heats it exudes 
through the pores of the upper surface of the leaves. 
In this state it maybe exhaled during the sultry heat 
of the day, and fall again in the form of condensed 
vapour in the night ; while what is secreted near the 
time of sunset remains on the leaves till the follow- 
ing morning. And, further, this same vegetable juice 
is extracted by another process besides the perspira- 
tory, — namely, by the sucker of the aphis inserted 
into the tender bark of the tree, or into the footstalks 
of the leaves, and conveyed through the insect’s sys- 
tem, and finally discharged almost in its primitive 
purity, from the abdomen, in liquid jets, unless there 
are ants at hand. In that case, the precious juice is 
sucked in by the last-named insects, with an eager- 
ness which strongly testifies their sense of its rich- 
ness.* 
* See P. Huber’s Researches concerning Ants. 
Since the above was written, the author has met with the fol- 
lowing confirmation of his opinion as to the origin of Honey- 
dew, in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture , No. 44, March 
1 839, from the pen of an intelligent contributor to that work ; 
