WONDERFUL EYES OF THE BEE.

Mataura Ensign, 16 March 1909, Page 2

WONDERFUL EYES OF THE BEE.

NATURE'S PROVISION

I lie dircctuass of tho bee's flight is proverbial. Tho shortest distance bet«een any two given poiuts is called a bee-line. Many observers think that the immense eyes with which tho inoceL is furnished greatly assist, if tbey do not entirely account for, the arrowy str.iighlness of its passage through the air. Every bee has two kinds of eyes—the two lurge compound eyes looking ukti hemispheric ou either bid© aud th<#> ilirco simple ones which crown the lop <t the bead. Each compound eye ta ••imposed of facets-—that lb to !| u object is reflected 3.WW fin** i its surlaco. Every one of these tacets in the base of au inverted liexagmal may bo termed au eve, for it has us own iris and optic nerve. ' How these insocts manage tliia marri of eyes is not ye£ known. lliey aro immovable; but mobility it rendered unnecessary because of the range of v ision afforded by tbo position •ind number of tbo facets. Tbev havn no lids, but are protected from tfie dust '"d injury by rows of hairs growing along the lines at the junctions of tb» tacets The simple eves are supposed to bavo been given to the bee to enablw U to see above its hoad when iutent. upon gathering honey from the cup* ol flowers. Probably this mav be one reason; but it is likely that there aro other uses lor them not yet ascertained - A beo Hies much in the same way at a pigeon—that is to say, it first takes an upward spiral flight in the air, and then darts straight for the object in view. An exporiniontor on insect nature covered a bee's simple eye with paint, and sent it into tho air ; instead of darting straight off after rising it continued to ascend. Apparently, then, these eye* are used in w.ine measure to direct the flight.