Ill 



EYES, ANTENNAE, AND BRAIN 



Sometimes bees fly several miles in search of flowers. 

 Upon leaving the hive, they ascend high in the air as if 

 to get their bearings, then they are off, zigzagging as fast 

 as they can to the objects of their desire, for they do not 

 fly in a straight line but continually curve from side to 

 side. There is little doubt that the eye directs these distant 

 flights, and that the bee sees the shine of the flower fields 

 much farther away than man could distinguish them. 



Certainly the bee is abundantly supplied with visual 

 organs. On either side of the head are the two large 

 compound eyes, each, in the worker, being composed of 

 more than six thousand simple eyes or facets. 



There has been a good deal of speculation as to how 

 this astonishing supply of eyes can be used without breed- 

 ing confusion in the mind of their possessor. It used to 

 be affirmed that each facet gave a separate image of that 

 portion of the landscape directly in front of it, and that 

 the union of these fragments made an unbroken whole ; 

 but to-day the balance of opinion is in favor of an un- 

 broken image for each separate facet, and the final recon- 

 ciliation of the ensuing chaos is believed to be accomplished 

 by the blending of all the images into one, as our own two 

 eyes give the impression of but one image. 



Whether the bee's two compound eyes focus together, 

 as do our two eyes, is another matter, and probably they 

 do not, as in the honey-gatherers the eyes are well over 



