SAMUELSON, ON THE HONEY-BEE. 51 



crude and imperfect idea of the organ in question, and we shall now accu^ 

 rately describe one of these ' telescopes,' as we have popularly termed them. 



"Each of the eyelets or 'ocelli' which, aggregated, constitute the com- 

 pound eye of a Bee is itself a perfect instrument of vision, consisting of 

 two remarkably formed lenses, namely, an outer ' corneal' lens and an inner 

 or 'conical' lens. The 'corneal' lens is a hexahedral or six-sided prism, 

 and it is the assemblage of these prisms that forms what is called the 

 'cornea' of the compound eye. 



"This 'cornea' may easily be peeled off, and if the whole, or a portion, 

 be placed under the microscope, the grouping of the beautiful lenses becomes 

 distinctly visible. 



" But, stay ! we must not yet part company with the corneal lens of the 

 Bee's eyelet ; for, on closer investigation, we shall perceive that it is not a 

 simple but a compound lens, — a fact of considerable importance, that has, 

 we believe, been overlooked by physiologists. It is composed of two plano- 

 convex lenses (that is, as you doubtless know, lenses having a plane and a 

 convex surface) of different densities or refracting powers, and the plane sur- 

 faces of these lenses being adherent, it follows that the prismatic corneal 

 lens is a compound double convex lens.* 



" The effect of this arrangement is, that if there should be any aberration or 

 divergence of the rays of light during their passage through one portion of 

 the lens, it is rectified in its transit through the other. Now it is nothing 

 new to find in the eye of an animal lenses of different densities, but we do 

 not recollect ever having heard of any other instance where one compound 

 lens has been found consisting of two adherent ones of this description.f 

 How remarkable, then, that we should discover such a phenomenon in so 

 humble an animal as the Bee ! Aye, reader ; and how remarkable, too, that 

 we should find such a contrivance adopted by man in the construction of 

 what he at present considers the most perfect microscopic lens ! 



"With untiring patience and perseverance his mind was directed to the 

 attainment of this end, namely, to correct the aberration of light, wliicit 

 caused his lenses to colour and distort the objects under investigation, until 

 he found that, by employing compound lenses of varying densities, this evil 

 effect was counteracted ; and now we see that the Creator had, probably 

 before man was brought into existence, constructed the eye of the Bee ou 

 the same principle. ' 



"There is one thought that cannot fail to present itself to the reflecting 

 mind in connexion with this analogy between the eye of the Bee and the 

 achromatic lens, confirmatory of the great declaration that 'God made man 

 in His own image,' — Has not man invented what He no doubt suggested, 

 but not alone through the medium of the external senses ? for man knew 

 nothing of the compound lens in the Bee's eyelet when the idea occurred to 

 him to construct an achromatic lens for his microscope, and yet it is obvious 

 that he hit upon one of the most perfect n^eansof attaining the desired end I 



" A word more regarding the corneal lenses of the Bee. 



"It appears to us questionable whether the normal shape of these lenses 

 is hexagonal, or whether this form is not rather a necessity of growth ; that 

 is to say, we think they are normally round, but assume the hexagonal 

 shape during the process of develojjment in consequence of their agglomera- 

 tion. If this surmise be correct, it applies equally to the compound eyes 

 of all insects, and our inference in this respect is drawn — 



* We believe the credit of this discovery is due to Dr. J. B. Hicks, 

 t ]t is not unlikely that the eyes of other insects are similarly con- 

 structed. 



