^(Z OLDEST BEE PAPER 

 -^ IN AMERICA 



.<»». 



VOL. XIX. 



CHICAGO, ILL., APRIL 4, 1883. 



No. 14. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Propkietor. 



The Eyes of a Bee. 



" The eyes may meet above as in 

 drones (Fig. 1), most two-winp; flies 

 and dragon-flies, or tliey may be con- 

 siderably separated, as in tlie worker- 



A correspondent, wbo had read our 

 brief reply to Mr. C Theilmann on 

 tbis subject, sends the following re- 

 quest : 



Mr. Editor : — Please describe more 

 fully, in detail, the simple and com- 

 pound eyes of the bee. It is a subject 

 of interest to us, who do not under- 

 stand all about bee optics. Tell us 

 what simple and compound eyes are, 

 in the Bee Journal. J. W. B. 



Suwanee, Ga., March 10, 1883. 



We cannot do better than to quote, 

 from Prof. Cook's "Manual of the 

 Apiary," the following, on this very 

 interesting subject : 



"The eyes are of two kinds, the 

 compound, which are always present 

 in mature insects, and the ocelli or 

 simple eyes, which may or may not be 

 present. When present there are 

 usually three, which, if we join by 

 lines, we will describe a triangle, in 

 the vertices of whose angles are the 

 ocelli. Rarely there are but two 

 ocelli, and very rarely but one. 



"The simple eyes [F F F) are cir- 

 cular, and possess a cornea, lens and 

 retina, which receives the nerve of 

 sight. 



From the experiments of Reau- 

 mur and Swammerdam, which con- 

 sisted in covering the eyes with var- 

 nish, they concluded that vision with 

 these simple eyes is very indistinct, 

 though by them the insect can dis- 

 tinguish light. Some have thought 

 that these simple eyes were for vision 

 at slight distances. Larvse, like 

 spiders and myriapods, have only 

 simple eyes. 



" The compound eyes are .simply a 

 cluster of simple eyes, are situated 

 one on either side of the head, and 

 vary much in form and size. Between 

 or below these are inserted the an- 

 tennae. Sometimes these last are in- 

 serted in a notch of the eyes, and in a 

 few cases actually divide each eye 

 into two eyes. 



Fig. 1— Head of Drone. mMKnitied. 



bees (Fig. 2). The separate facets or 

 simple eyes, of each compoinid eye, 

 are hexagonal, or six-sided, and in the 

 microscope look not umlike a section 

 of honey-comb. The number of these 

 is prodigious — Leeuwenhoek actually 

 counted 12,000 in the eye of a dragon- 

 fly—while some butterflies have over 

 17,000. The compound eyes are mo- 

 tionless, but from their size and sub- 

 spherical shape, they give quite a 

 range of vision. It is not likely that 



Fig. :J.— Head of Worker Bee, niitgnifled. 



they are capable of adjustment to 

 accord with different distances, and 

 it has been supposed, from the direct 

 darting flight of bees to their liives, 

 and the awkward wcuk they make in 

 finding a hive when moved only for a 

 short distance, that there eyes are best 

 suited to long vision. 



" Sir John Lubbock has i)roved, by 

 some interesting experiments with 

 strips of colored paper, that bees can 

 distinguish colors. Honey was placed 

 on a blue strip, beside several otliers 

 of various colors. In the absence of 

 the bees he changed the position of 



this strip, and upon their return the 

 bees went to the blue strip rather than 

 to the old position. Our practical 

 apiarists have long been aware of thiii 

 fact, and have conformed their prac- 

 tice to the knowledge, in giving a 

 variety of colors to their hives. 

 Apiarists have frequently noted that 

 bees have a rare faculty of marking 

 positions, but, for slight distances, 

 their sense of color will correct mis- 

 takes which would occur if position 

 alone was guide." 



Our correspondent should get a 

 copy of the Manual. Its perusal will 

 repay him a hundredfold its cost, as 

 well as be a ready book of reference 

 on every subject connected with bees. 



Clubbing with Cook's Manual.— A 



subscriber, who has already paid 12.00 

 for the Weekly Bee Journal for 

 1883, wants to know if we will send a 

 copy of Cook's Manual or Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Guide, in cloth, if he sends us 7.5 

 cents more. Certainly, we will ; the 

 only requirement being that the full 

 price for the Journal, either weekly 

 or Monthly, has already been paid to 

 lis, and no other premium has akeady 

 been sent. All such may send us 7.5 

 cents in postage stamps and get the 

 Manual, bound in cloth, by next mail. 

 The Manual, bound in paper covers, 

 will be sent for 50 cents, extra to the 

 price of subscription. This offer will 

 be good only until the seventh edition, 

 printed last year (1882), is exhausted, 

 and no more will be printed in paper 

 covers. This offer will, therefore, 

 only last for a very short time, and 

 those who wish to avail themselves of 

 it, should order at once. 



^g" Some persons, having sent us a 

 club of subscribers through a club- 

 agency, have written us to send the 

 premium for getting up the club. To 

 do this would be doubling our premium . 

 The club agency gets their commis- 

 sion, and then we can send no prem- 

 ium. Please remember, to be entitled 

 to the premiums we offer, the full 

 amount of the subscriptions must be 

 I sent direct to this office. 



