ts and the aphides have long been celebrated; and
that there is a connection between them, you may, at any time in the
proper season, convince yourself; for you will always find the former
very busy on those trees and plants on which the latter abound; and if
you examine more closely, you will discover that the object of the ants,
in thus attending upon the aphides, is to obtain the saccharine fluid
secreted by them, which may well be denominated their milk. This fluid,
which is scarcely inferior to honey in sweetness, issues in limpid drops
from the abdomen of these insects, not only by the ordinary passage, but
also by two setiform tubes placed, one on each side, just above it.
Their sucker being inserted in the tender bark, is without intermission
employed in absorbing the sap, which, after it has passed through their
system, they keep continually discharging by these organs. When no ants
attend them, by a certain jerk of the body, which takes place at regular
intervals, they ejaculate it to a distance."

"Mr. Knight once observed," says Bevan, "a shower of honey-dew
descending in innumerable small globules, near one of his oak-trees, _on
the 1st of September_; he cut off one of the branches, took it into the
house, and holding it in a stream of light, which was purposely admitted
through a small opening, distinctly saw the aphides ejecting the fluid
from their bodies with considerable force, and this accounts for its
being frequently found in situations where it could not have arrived by
the mere influence of gravitation. The drops that are thus spurted out,
unless interrupted by the surrounding foliage, or some other interposing
body, fall upon the ground; and the spots may often be observed, for
some time, beneath and around the trees affected with honey-dew, till
washed away by the rain. The power which these insects possess of
ejecting the fluid from their bodies, seems to have been wisely
instituted to preserve cleanliness in each individual fly, and indeed
for the preservation of the whole family; for pressing as they do upon
one another, they would otherwise soon be glued together, and rendered
incapable of stirring. On looking steadfastly at a group of these
insects (_Aphides Salicis_) while feeding on the bark of the willow,
their superior size enables us to perceive some of them elevating their
bodies and emitting a transparent substance in the form of a small
shower."

"Nor scorn ye now, fond elves,