HOHEYDEW 
493 
sands of ants, bees, and wasps, which feed 
on it.” 
More than 400 tons of honey dew are 
shipped from the Hawaiian Islands annu¬ 
ally, most of which is an excretion of the 
sugar-cane leaf-hopper ( Perkinsiella sac- 
charidica), a species belonging to the fam¬ 
ily Eulgoridae. In 1903 these insects be¬ 
came so abundant as to prove a serious 
check to the cultivation of sugar cane. For 
several years it caused a loss of about 
$3,000,000 annually to the planters; but it 
has been brought under control and today 
the plantations are again producing heavy 
crops of sugar. The honey dew from the 
sugar-cane leaf-hopper is described by 
Phillips as very dark amber in color and 
slightly ropy. In flavor it strongly re¬ 
sembles molasses; while most honeydews 
granulate very rapidly, this type does not 
granulate at all. Samples several years 
old are as clear as when first extracted. A 
small amount of this honeydew mixed with 
the light-colored algaroba honey imparts 
its color and flavor to the entire amount. 
Bees prefer floral nectar to the excretion; 
but, when the floral nectar is not abundant, 
they gather both and the honey is a mix¬ 
ture. 
The chemical composition of Hawaiian 
honeydew honey differs so widely from 
floral honey that many buyers on the'main¬ 
land have charged that it was adulterated; 
but after careful investigation Phillips 
was convinced that it was a natural sweet 
product collected by bees and shipped 
without the addition of other sugars. It 
is not placed on the market in competition 
with the honeys of the mainland derived 
from flowers, but is sold to bakers, who 
have found that it has superior baking 
properties and prefer it to algaroba honey. 
On the Hew York market it commands a 
slightly higher price per pound than al¬ 
garoba honey. 
Analysis (see table) of the honeydew 
honey of the sugar-cane leaf-hopper shows 
that the ash content is very high, ranging 
from three to six times the amount found 
in normal honeys. The percentage of dex¬ 
trin is also very high, and its acidity is 
three times that of algaroba honey. The 
percentage of sucrose or cane sugar is a lit¬ 
tle higher than that of the average of floral 
honeys. A ray of polarized light is turned 
to the right by the honeydew, while pure 
floral honey turns the ray to the left. 
The Coccidae are commonly known as 
scale r bugs, scale-insects, bark-lice, mealy¬ 
bugs, and Coccids. The species are very 
numerous and infest the bark and foliage 
of a great variety of plants, and also 
nearly every kind of fruit. They excrete 
great quantities of honeydew both in tem¬ 
perate and tropical regions. Only the 
adult females exude honeydew. Hot all 
of the species produce honeydew, as many 
excrete wax or resinous substances. In 
early autumn a great quantity of honeydew 
is occasionally gathered from oak trees, 
the limbs of which are covered with a great 
number of small Coccids, gall-like in form, 
about a quarter of an inch in length, from 
the ends of which there flows continuously 
a clear sweet liquid. So profusely is the 
honeydew exuded that the trees appear as 
tho they had been sprayed with hundreds 
of gallons of it. When it dries it solidifies 
and hangs in small stalactites. This hon¬ 
eydew is produced not by a gall, as is often 
reported, but by the adult females of a 
species of Kermes » which are remarkable 
for their gall-like form. “So striking is the 
resemblance,” says Comstock, “that they 
have been mistaken for galls by many en¬ 
tomologists.” 
Species of Lecanium, a genus of Coccids 
found everywhere on plants, attack bass¬ 
wood, tulip tree, maples, and many other 
trees, covering the leaves with a sweet liquid 
similar to that yielded by plant-lice. In 
California a scale-insect ( Lecanium oleae) 
coats the foliage of citrus fruit trees with 
great quantities of shining dew. A fungus 
often grows luxuriantly on such leaves, 
forming a dense felt over their surface. At 
Amherst, Mass., and at Guelph, Canada, 
thousands of bees have been observed gath¬ 
ering from spruce trees the sweet excretion 
of a scale-insect ( PhysoTcermes piceae). 
They are found at the base of the new 
growth and have the appearance of little 
buds. Pine trees are likewise at times pro¬ 
lific sources of honeydew gathered from 
•scale-insects living at the base of the leaves. 
Probably more honeydew is produced by 
plant-lice or aphids ( Aphididae) than any 
other family of insects. They occur on & 
great variety of trees and shrubs, a part 
of the species living on the leaves, a part 
