Larvæ of Membracis serving as Milk-cattle to a Brazilian Species of Honey-bees

Abstract

The connection between the ants and the Aphides has long since been generally known; in the proper season we always find ants very busy on those trees and plants on which the Aphides abound, and if we examine more closely we discover that their object in thus attending upon them is to obtain the saccharine fluid which they secrete from two setiform tubes placed one on each side just above the end of the abdomen, and which may well be denominated their milk (Kirby and Spence, “Introduction to Entomology,” 7th edition, p. 335). It has also long been observed and described, that not only do the Aphides yield this repast to the ants, but also the Cocci, and that in the tropical regions of India and Brazil, where no Aphides occur, the ants milk the larvae of several species of Cercopis and Membracis (Kirby and Spence, p. 336; Westwood, “Modern Classification of Insects,” II. p. 434). Recently Prof. F. Delpino, of Vallombrosa, near Florence, observed the same connection between Formica pubescens and Tettigometra virescens (“Bolletino Entomologico,” anno IV. Settembre 1872). But, as far as I know, it has never been observed hitherto that honey-bees also nourish themselves by the secretion of certain hemipterous insects. Hence the following observation, made some months ago by my brother, Fritz Muller (Itajahy, Prov. St. Catherina, Brazil) may be worth publishing.