The Somerset reporter., 1897-04-22
ARGUS OUTPOINTED.
AN INSECT THAT is CREDITED WITH
THlRTY-SlX THOUSAND EYES.

teresting Natural History.
Thirty-six thousand eyes in one headl
This may appear a little like exaggera-
ton, but It is a fact Science, backed by
the microscope, says 81, aud science
never stretches the truth. Should it do
so it would cease to be science.
Argus was tabled to have a hundred
eyes, but Argus would be a very insig-
nifieant curiosity compared with the
latest discovery IN the insect kingdom
There are numbers Of insects with 100
and even 300 eyes, but when the num-
Der Of optics allotted to single insect
reaches up into the thousands the idea
is startling
Naturalists have recently been engag-
ed in the study Of this most interesting
subject Each succeeding day brings
more marvellous results until the as
founding discovery has been made that
the common dragon fly. or mosquito
hawk, while seemingly possessed of
only two visual organs, really has a.
many as 81, 600, each Of the two visible
to the ordinary observer being subdivid-
ed into $. GOO separate lenses, each eye
let having distinct nerve connecting
it with the brain and acting entirely
independently Of its myrlads of com
panions
The theory most generally adopted
by scientists is thar, while lar superior
to the eYe Of higher animal life as re
CARDS moving Objects the power of OBJ
seryation of the composite ye is inferior
n - 4fss "a th1ntgg
The reason j. this; Tie moving object
is first Observed Y one Of the thousands
of facets, which lcrceiyeS It for the in
hnllesm'al part Cf "a second that it take,
to gct aut Of the arc of vision Of that
particular Inns and Tass into that of an
other, each /. movement being separately
telcgfaphed To the brain by the facet on
duty. But with ii stationary object it is
different, since for some reason the
minor organ fails to focus accurately,
and 50 render the object less distinct
than Wien viewed Ly eyes Of only one
lens each.
a que stion which continues to puzzle
the SCIENTISTS is whether the animal or
insect sees as many image of the objects
as he has eyes, CT facets. Fer instance,
does the dragon fly fancy he is fitting
over 3G, GOO ponds, or does he see only
one2 Probably one, for the two eyes of
human being in normal condition show
but single image. Besides, apart from
the lenses and cones in front, the eye is
hollow sphere pierced by pertorations
running down the facets toward the
center. 1t follows that the light impress
sions thus form single picture, or mo-
safe us it were, each facet presenting
slightly different picture from its neigh.
Dor and the group presenting perfect
whole
There are many other animals pos
sessed of an extraordinary number of
eyes. James Francis Stevens, a noted
entomologist, is said to have recorded
1000 such species i'll his garden in one
afternoon, while Francis Pascoe, anoth-
er noted naturalist, counted so different
specimens on his library window.
The common scallop, for instance, has
many eyes scattered irregularly over It's
body. The lobster has massed together
III each orb more than hundred dis.
tinct eyes, and, unlike human eyes,
these are set forward, instead of being
sunk inward. Does the poor lobster SEE
things hundredfold? If so, possibly it
is i'll avoiding the SO imaginary lobster
pots that he stumbles into the real one.
The common house fly has 1000 eyes,
the cabbage butterfly II, 00O the drone
fly 5000, the honeybee 6, 300. But still
at the head of the list stands the mos
quito hawk, or dragon fly, with his
86, 600. As his name suggests, while
not despising any of the smaller insects,
his speciality is the mosquito. Indeed he
has so succeeded i'll terrorizing these lit
tie pests that his lfeless form still fill
them with alarm. In localities where
mosquitoes are troublesome an effectual
mode of Kidding the place of them con-
sists in suspending dead dragon fly
from the ceiling by piece of thread.
Those who have tried it say that it has
never been known to fail
Up to certain point these multi
tudinous eyes may be compared to " in
dows fitted with innumerable panes of
glass The panes, however, are of diff
ferent forms. Some, like those of the
bee and the ant, are six sided remind
ing us OF the pattern so common IN
Gothic architecture. Some, again, are
diamond shaped and others square,
Another interesting branch of this in
teresting subject is the study of the neal
and far sighted insects. Johanna Mul-
Ter long ago pointed out taat the flight
of insects depends upon their power of
vision This Will account for the differ
ence in the flights of the common house
fly and the wasp. The one confines him
self TO short flights. As his food is al
ways to be found within small area,
he flies in short curves and circles. But
the wasp is remarkably sharp sighted,
and the arrangement of the lenses shows
that his line of vision is decidedly for
ward. Here, again, the dragon fly is pre-
eminent. He has well been called the
tyrant of the air He alone is able TO
take perfectly straight lines at enormous
speed for long distances, evidently See
ing we'll what is ahead of him New
Orleans Times-Democrat.