126 INSECT MISCELLANIES. 



GO oOUo 



m, Eyes of Segtsb-ia perjida — and «, Tegcnuria domestica. 



C\ GO ^ 



Eyes of Epeira diadema — and;?, Thoridion coronatum. 



q, Eyes of Latrodecta, 13 g^Utata — and ?•, Argyroneta aquatica. 



Three different sorts of eyes in insects have been 

 described by some authors, while others mention only 

 two, accounting the third sort only a peculiar coronet 

 (stemma, Linn., Fabr.) for ornamenting the head. 

 it is not a little singular, however, that such men as 

 Linnffius and Fabricius should have come to this 

 conclusion, with the works of Swammerdam and 

 Reaumur before them. The supposed coronet con- 

 sists most commonly of shining, transparent, smooth, 

 round points, usually three in number, placed on the 

 front or top of the head, for the most part in form of 

 a triangle. Swammerdam, in speaking of what he 

 calls ' the three singular small eyes in a triangular 

 form between and below the larger eyes,' in the head 

 of a male bee, says, ' The first thing that I have 

 observed distinctly with regard to these little eyes, is 

 that they have a pellucid cornea, and secondly, that 

 in their cavity there likewise appears a coloured little 

 part, which may be called the uvea.' He also traced 

 nerves from the upper or cranial ganglion running 

 towards each of those three eyes ; and adds, ^ these 

 are the reasons why I call them eyes, to which may 

 be added, that the eyes of spiders and scorpions are 



