We see from the above account that ants are not the only insects that can make discreet use of honey-yielding creatures, though they excel all others in this respect. Wasps have also learnt to milk, if not to stall, their kine, and to wasps, it would seem, must be added—which need not surprise us—at least one species of bee. A correspondent, whose name and date of communication I cannot now remember, says, writing to _Nature_: “Fritz Muller has observed in Brazil a larva of a leaf-hopper—_Umbonia indicator_—which is used, like the Aphides by the ants, as milch cattle by a species of stingless bee—_Trigonia Cagafogo_. This bee is fond of oily matters, and feeds on carrion, old stinking cheese, and oil secreted by various plants. Although stingless, it possesses a very intense venom, which causes a most lively irritation of the skin.” I wish I could give the details of a fact so interesting, but have not had the opportunity of reading the original account from which this bald statement is taken. The ants, therefore, have rivals in this industry, and possibly such rivalry may exist to an extent hitherto unsuspected. Though the protection of these insects by the ants architecturally—by moist earth placed round them, that is to say—is mentioned in the above account, it is not dwelt upon, and seems to play but a small part in the general drama. Some ants, however, rely solely on this method. Mr. Gaudie, writing in the _Victorian Naturalist_,[48] gives the following account of one of these: “A small species of ant, commonly distributed in the Mallee, has a curious habit of keeping in close confinement a rather large mealy Aphis, which feeds on the stems of young eucalyptus gum trees. Round and over these Aphides the ants construct a domed covering of particles of bark, grass, etc., which serves the double purpose of imprisoning the aphides and excluding other ants. Some of these coverings appear to be entirely closed, whilst others have an opening left in the edges. This doorway is, however, constantly guarded by a pair of ants, which continually move about in the open space, and seem much impressed with the importance of the duty assigned to them. Each enclosure contains generally from three to a dozen Aphides, and about the same number of ants. Upon making a breach in some of these structures for the purpose of observation, I have noticed that many of the live stock were immediately seized by the ants and forcibly removed to a place of safety. The ant under notice is about a quarter of an inch in length, and is of a uniform dark, reddish-brown colour, and forms its ordinary habitation under logs, or in old rotten stumps, and sometimes in the ground. Several other species of ants are very assiduous in their attendance on the various aphides, _tettigonidæ_, and coccids, but the above is the only kind I have noticed that uses such extraordinary means to secure a monopoly of the much-prized ‘honey-dew.’”