112 [J UNE, 
\ 
A drop of the honey, in a watch glass, Binelened when exposed to a steam heat 
with dilute sulphuric acid. 
When heated with the blue solution obtained by adding tartaric acid or solu- 
aa of potassa to sulphate of copper, a red precipitate of the suboxide of copper 
fe}. 
Chloride of barium, ferrocyanide of potassium, and sulphate of copper, added 
He me aqueous solution of the honey, gave no precipitates, either in the cald or 
y heat. 
Nitrate of silver gave in the cold a whitish precipitate, which changed to dark 
brown by heating. 
A portion of the honey heated on platinum foil blackened, gave out fumes, and 
the odor of burnt sugar, leaving a porous coke, which burned off and left an al- 
most imperceptible ash. 
A portion of the substance which had been left in vacuo for two weeks was 
taken for analysis by combustion with oxide of copper and chlorate of potassa. 
As the honey thus dried was not perfectly hard, but of a sticky nature, it was 
necessary to introduce it into the combustion tube upon a piece of glass. 0.497 
of honey gave 0.306 of water, and 0.684 of carbonic acid, corresponding to a per 
centage of C = 37.525 and H = 6.841 0 by loss = 55.634. This corresponds, as 
nearly as could be expected, under the circumstances of the analysis, with the 
formula of crystallized grape sugar Cie Hi4 O14 as may be seen by the following 
comparison : 
By Calculation. By Analysis. Anal. Starch Sugar by 
De Saussure. 
Ci2 36.363 37.925 37.29 
Hig 7.071 - 6.841 6.84. 
Ow 56.566 59.634 09.87 
100.000 100.000 100.00 
The following analysis may be compared with my results: 1. Diabetic sugar 
by Peligot. 2. Sugar of grape, by De Saussure. 3. Cane suyar, by Liebig. 
4. Sugar of honey, by Prout. 
I. it Ill. IV. 
Cr 36.7 36.71 42.30 36.36 
H 7.3 6.78 6.45 C 
O 56.0 56.51 51.50 H t ae 
100.0 100.00 100.00 100.00 
It results, I think, from these experiments that the honey contained in the 
Mexican ant is a nearly pure solution of the sugar, so called, of fruits which is in 
a state of hydration, isomeric with grape sugar, Ci2 Hi4 Ovs, and differing from 
grape sugar in not crystallizing. The phenomena of circular polarization differ 
in these two named sugars; but the want of sufficient material rendered such 
comparison impossible. The honey of bees is a mixture of these two kinds of 
sugar; and as it isobtained from the nectar of flowers containing cane sugar, the 
transformation into fruit and grape sugars must take place in their bodies.* As 
the ant honey. yields, among its reactions, one of cane sugar, viz: that of black- 
ening when heated with dilute sulphuric acid, it is possible that it may contain 
an admixture of cane sugar, which would account for the imperfect correspond- 
ence of the analysis with the per centage calculated from the formula. It renders 
also the supposition plausible, that these ants obtain their honey from the same 
source as the bee. 
With regard to the acidity of the honey, want of material prevented any expe- 
riments. Can it be formic acid, or is it acetic from the oxidation of the alcohol 
in which the ants were preserved 2 
*Loewig-Chem. der Org. Verbindungen. 
