CHAPTER XV 



THE SIGHT OF INSECTS 



OFTEN we have wondered to what extent the sense of sight 

 is developed in insects. It has been asked again and 

 again. It has been argued from every possible standpoint, 

 but for all that it has been answered slovenly, and in an 

 unsatisfactory manner. 



Casual observations of the insect world tend rather to convince us 

 that its people are alert to movements and dangers, and therefore clear 

 of vision. We observe the male of a species searching for his mate. 

 Perhaps she is a foot or more away, hidden behind thick foliage. Her 

 color blends perfectly with her surroundings, yet how easily after a 

 move or two he discovers her and quickly greets her with his love. 



Again we hear a tree cricket, shouting his melody into the summer 

 night. Stealthily we creep up, step by step, to the spot from whence 

 the tune arises only to have it cease abruptly at the instant of dis- 

 covery. 



And so we might sight a thousand cases where apparently insects' 

 vision aids them in a successful life. The bug searching its mate, the 

 cricket avoiding discovery, the fly escaping its everlasting and greatest 

 enemy, the swat, and so on indefinitely. 



But it is strange how modern instruments and facilities for proper 

 study, knock one's pet theories in the head. They rather take the 

 romance out of things. Surely they leave no room for imagination, 

 but after all the truth is best. 



Insects possess sight, it is true, but in most cases it is not in a highly 



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