It is commonly supposed that the first cold nights, that mark the beginning of the end of the honey season, stimulate the production of honeydew; for it is after a chilly night that bees are usually seen at work on the trees where the aphides abound. A much more likely theory, however, is that the cold does not accelerate the secretion of the honeydew, but cuts off the more legitimate resources of the hive just when they are in fullest activity; and so the huge armies of foragers are momentarily thrown out of work, and must seek new outlets for their energy. The secretion of true nectar takes place mainly at night, and requires a temperature of about 70°. Anything much lower than this means dearth on the morrow, no matter how fine and warm the weather may then prove. The dark colour of aphis-syrup—a very little of which will ruin for market the finest honey—seems to be due as much to foreign matter as to its natural evil character. There is a peculiar growth on the bark of many trees where aphides congregate, which is known as soot-fungus. This and the honeydew get mingled together in a cimmerian slime, and, no doubt, the merest trace of it would serve to darken and spoil the purest honey. There seems to be no way for bee-keepers but to watch for the first chilly nights, as the honey-season draws towards its close; and then to be up early and get the surplus honey-chambers off the hives, before the bees have had a chance to spoil them. But the bee is no desperately early riser, for all her lofty place in the moral-maxim books. She generally waits until the morning sun has drunk up the night dews, and warmed the flower-calyces, before getting down to her work in earnest. The very early bees that may sometimes be seen winging out into the first light of a summer’s morning, are probably only water-carriers. The water-supply is the day’s first and last care with each hive in the breeding season. Every bee-garden seems to have its regular watering-place, generally on the oozy margin of some neighbouring pond; and here, in the early morning, and again towards late afternoon, the bees may be seen drinking in whole battalions, while the meridian hours of the day will find it all but deserted. Curiously, these water-fetching times coincide with the times when the nectar is least get-atable, or when the supply is exhausted for the day; which is another sidelight on honey-bee economics.