in.] HEARING— VISION. 89 



which we cannot perceive. There are, moreover, in the 

 antennae of ants certain curious organs which may 

 perhaps be of an auditory character. There are from 

 ten to a dozen in the terminal segment of Lasius jlavus, 

 the small meadow ant, and indeed in most of the species 

 which I have examined ; and one or two in each of the 

 short intermediate segmeuts. These organs consist of 

 three parts : a small spherical cup opening to the outside, 

 a long narrow tube, and a hollow body, shaped like an 

 elongated clock-weight. They may serve to increase the 

 resonance of sounds, acting in fact, to use the words of 

 Professor Tyndall, who was good enough to look at them 

 with me, like microscopic stethoscopes. 



The organs of vision are in most ants very complex 

 and conspicuous. There are generally three ocelli 

 arranged in a triangle on the top of their heads, and 

 on each side a large compound eye. 



The mode in which the eyes act is by no means under- 

 stood. They consist of a number of facets, varying from 

 1 — 5 in Ponera contracta, to more than 1,000 in each eye 

 — as, for instance, in the males of F. pratensis. In fact 

 these, so far fortunate, insects realize the wish of the poet : 



Thou lookest on the stars, my love ; 



Ah, would that I could be 

 Yon starry skies with thousand eyes, 



That I might look on thee. 



But if the male of F. pratensis sees 1,0C0 images 

 of the queen at once, this would seem to be a bewil- 

 dering privilege, and the prevailing opinion among 

 entomologists is that each facet only takes in a portion 

 of the field of view. 



However this may be, the sight of ants does not seem 



