NATURAL THEOLOGY. 295 



tion and catching every object. By which means, 

 ahhough the orb of the eye be stationary, the field 

 of vision is as ample as that of other animals, and 

 is commanded on every side. When this lattice- 

 work was first observed, the multiplicity and mi- 

 nuteness of the surfaces must have added to the 

 surprise of the discovery. Adams tells us that 

 fourteen hundred of these reticulations have been 

 counted in the two eyes of a drone-bee. 



In other cases the compensation is effected by 

 the number and position of the eyes themselves. 

 The spider has eight eyes, mounted upon different 

 parts of the head ; two in front, two in the top of 

 the head, two on each side. These eyes are with- 

 out motion, but, by their situation, suited to com- 

 prehend every view which the wants or safety of 

 the animal rendered it necessary for it to take. 



VII. The Memoirs for the Natural History of 

 Animals, published by the French Academy, a. d. 

 1687, furnish us with some curious particulars in 

 the eye of a cameleon. Instead of two eyelids, it 

 is covered by an eyelid with a hole in it. This 

 singular structure appears to be compensatory, and 

 to answer to some other singularities in the shape 

 of the animal. The neck of the cameleon is in- 

 flexible. To make up for this, the eye is so pro- 

 minent as that more than half of the ball stands 

 out of the head, by means of which extraordinary 

 projection the pupil of the eye can be carried by 

 the muscles in every direction, and is capable of 

 being pointed towards every object. But then, so 



