INSECTS. 



99 



In the common Bee the same structure is not less apparent. 

 The fiery eyes of many Gad-flies (Tabani, Fig. 72), which 

 present vivid bands of purple and green, are composed of 

 similar lenses, and each eye 

 contains nearly seven thou- 

 sand.* The Ant has 50 

 lenses ; the House-fly 4,000 ; 

 while above 17,000 have 

 been counted in the eye of 

 a Butterfly, and more than 

 25,000 in that of a species 

 of Beetle.f 



It is impossible to read 

 the simple facts which science thus makes known, and not be 

 struck with the complexity of structure shown in those dimi- 

 nutive creatures, considered with regard to only one of their 

 senses and its manifold functions. Nor can we hesitate for a 

 moment to attribute to the beneficence of our common Creator 

 the compensating contrivances by which the want of motion 



Fig. 72. TABANUS. 



Fig. 73. PYBALIS OF TUB VINE. 



Fig. 73. Vine-leaf attacked by the Fyralis.4, The male. 4 a, The female.- 

 4 //, The Caterpillar. 4 c, The eggs. 4 d and -1 e t The pupee. 



* Kirby and Spcncc, vol. iii. 



f Mordella Beetle. 



