SENSES OF BEES. 311 







sponse to another, and the female be attracted by 

 the voice of the male. BRUNELLI shut up a male 

 in a box, and allowed the female her liberty : as 

 soon as the male chirped she flew to him immedi- 

 ately. For further evidence of the existence of 

 this faculty in insects, see page 262. (Organs of 

 Sensation.) 



The EYE-SIGHT of bees, notwithstanding the 

 wonderful mechanism of their eyes, seems less 

 perfect than their other senses : on some occasions 

 it scarcely serves them to distinguish the entrance 

 of their hives, when they come home loaded with 

 provision. WILDMAN says that he has observed 

 them go up and down, seeking the door of the 

 hive, and be obliged after alighting to rise again 

 in order to find it : he conceived that they see 

 better when flying than when on foot. I believe, 

 however, that this opinion of WILDMAN will not, 

 upon examination, be found quite correct. The 

 mere act of flying does not enable them to see 

 objects better ; but when on the wing, they are at 

 a greater distance from those objects, the eyes of 

 these insects being so constructed as to enable 

 them to see best at a moderate distance. As DR. 

 EVANS has justly remarked, therefore, "the poet's 

 disdainful allusion to a 



Fly whose feeble ray scarce spreads 



An inch around 



should here be exactly reversed." DR. DERHAMHI 



