4 PHTSIOLOaT OF THE HOKET-BEE. 



10. The facets of the composite eyes, thousauds in num- 

 ber, are six-sided, like the cells of the honey-comb, and 

 being directed towards nearly every point, they permit the 

 insect to see in a great number of directions at the same 

 time. 



c. 



Fig. 1. 

 A, Head of "worker. B, Head of queen . C, Head of drone. 

 (From "Les Abeilles" of Maurice Girard.) 



(Magnified.) 



11. In comparing the eyes of worker, queen and drone, 

 Mr. Cheshire says : 



" The worker spends mucli of her time in the open air. Accu- 

 rate and powerful vision are essentials to the proper prosecution 

 of her labours, and here I found the compound eye possessing 

 about 6,300 facets. In the mother of this worker I expected to 

 find a less number, for queens know little of daylight. After 

 wedding they are out of doors but once, or at most twice, in a 

 year.* This example verified my forecast, by showing 4,920 facets 

 on each side of the head. A son of this mother, much a stay-at- 

 home also, was next taken. His facets were irregular in size, 

 those at the lower part of the eye being much less than those 

 near the top ; but they reached the immense number of 13,090 on 

 each side of the head. Why should the visual apparatus of the 

 drone be so extraordinarily developed beyond that of the worker, 

 whose need of the eye seems at first to be much more pressing 

 than his ? " 



• Wlien going out Tirtth a swaim. 



