196 EYES OF INSECTS. 



to multiply objects to its natural possessor, but it has never- 

 theless been converted by the ingenuity of man into a curious 

 optical instrument of multiplying power. Through the eye 

 of a Flea (so placed as to command objects with the assistance 

 of a microscope) a single soldier has appeared as at once di- 

 minished and multiplied into a Lilliputian army, while the 

 flame of a single candle has been made, in like manner, to 

 represent a grand miniature illumination. 



The eyes of Butterflies present on examination the appear- 

 ance of a multiplying glass of this description, the facets 

 bearing a resemblance to a cut diamond. The ocelli or simple 

 eyes, appearing as little points of crystal, seated mostly above 

 the compound pair, and usually three in number, are supposed 

 to be intended, generally as well as in Bees, for the purposes 

 of near vision such as examination of leaves, flowers, &c., 

 serving for food, or presenting it in the smaller " fry" by 

 which they are frequented. 



The position of Insect eyes is in several cases worthy of 

 especial notice : affording in their variations from the common 

 type, so many remarkable instances of that kind of creative 

 care which adapts each organ with exquisite nicety to its 

 intended use. 



In that little shining Beetle, called the Whirlwig, which 

 may be seen every summer's day whirling about the surface of 

 smooth waters, each of the eyes is, as it were, divided into 

 an upper and a lower half: the one for looking up into the 



