VISION IN INSECTS, 



131 



bees to throw it off, or brush it away the more easily, 



by a friction which bees perform with their feathered 



leg's. Similar hairs are found in the facetted eyes of 



many other insects*. 



Behind the outer coat (cornea) of the bee's eye, 



there is an opaque substance, like what is called the 



paint (uvea) in the eyes of quadrupeds and man. In 



bees this is of a deep purple colour ; in other insects 



it is green; in some blue; in some black; and, in 



others, it has a very beautiful mixture of various 



colours f. 



A 



A, Eyes of the bee greatly magnified, a, an eye in its perfect state 

 covered with the cornea ; b, an eye Irom which the cornea and hOme of the 

 hexagonal facettes have been removed to ^how its structure; c, the three 

 stemuiata or coronet eyes ; d, the ganglion of nerves. B, a portion of the 

 surface of the eye deprived of its cornea. C, ditto covered with the cornea, 

 and showing the hairs which cover its surface; c, the tliree small eyes, 

 shown also in page 1 27. 



* Swammerdara, u 211, 



f Ibid. i. 212. 



