11 Part of a Letter from Mr. Anthony van 
Leeuwefihoek, F, R.^. concerning the Eyes 
of Beetles^ &c, 
I Have formerly fpoke of the Multiplicity of Eyes^ 
wherewith the fmalier fort of Infeds arc endued, as 
Flies are: which Eyes, I have feveral times ftewn to 
Perfons of Quality, that came to fee me, to their great 
Satisfadion and that io fuch a manner, that they could 
clearly difcern the fliewing of fome Hundreds of Eyes at 
once clear/y: Amongft the reft, I have, laft Summer^ 
(hewn to feveral Englilh Gentlemen, the Multiplicity of 
Eyes that are to be (een in the Tumca Cornea of. a Beetle, 
that is called the Eye. 
This Sight was very ftrange to the faid Englifli Gen- 
tlemen; becaufe, that if one will reproach a Man with 
Blindnefs, or Dimnefs of Sight, they u(e to fay in Eng^ 
liflij ToH are as Blind as a Beetle^ becaufe they reckon a 
Beetle to be Blind. 
I have cut that Part of a Beetle, which is reckoned to 
be his Eyej from the Head, and, after I fiad made it clean, 
fixed it before the Magnifying Glaft, and obferved, that 
• it could not make up half the Bulk of a Globe, it being 
broader than it was long. * 
Further, I have told, to the beft of my Power, the 
Eyes that were in One Row, in the greateft Serai-circle, 
and found that there was, atleaft. Three Score of 
t;hem. 
Now let us fuppofe, that in the fmall Semi-circle 
of the tunica Cornea, there is but Forty Eyes in One 
Row, and then add thefe Sixty to the Forty, and it 
makes an Hundred, the half whereof is Fifty, which I 
do imagine, that if we take the Tunica Cornea for half a 
Cc Globe 
