342 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



seated in these divisions ; and, beginning with the 

 head, let us glean a few particulars upon that 

 most interesting topic the eyes of insects. We 

 might well fill a volume with this subject alone, 

 for truly it is almost inexhaustible. In the other 

 sections of the animal kingdom, the eyes, though 

 organs of the highest importance, are, neverthe- 

 less, simple, and little varied in their number and 

 arrangement. But in insects, whether we consider 

 their number, their structure, their arrangement, 

 or their size, we are lost in amazement at finding 

 these organs assume an importance in the' insect's 

 economy, of which we have 

 no parallel elsewhere. Look, 

 for example, at the accom- 

 panying representation of 

 the eyes of a bee, and then 

 let us ask whether, in all the 

 world beside, we can find a 

 creature whose two eyes are 

 larger than all the rest of its head put together ? 

 What should we think of a quadruped as large as 

 a bull, whose eyes occupied great part of its head, 

 its forehead, and the greater portion of its face ? 

 What astonishing powers of sight it would possess ! 



