The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1897-10-01
ARGUS %OUTPOINTED.
AN INSECT TAT IS CREDITED WITH
ThiRTI-SiN THOUSAND EYES.

ntists Nave Msds some Wonderful d.
severiss In This Line. but They Give the
P>lm 70 the Commoa Dragon Fiy-In-
ssrsstins Nssur~l History.
Thirty six thousand eyes in n head
This may appear = little like exaRgera-
tion, but il il = fact Science, backed by
the microscope, says 70, and science
stretches the truth. Should 1t do
70 il would cease to be . science.
Argus was tabled TO have . hundred
but Argus would be q very insig-
curiosity compared with the
discovery in the insect kingdom.
are numbers Of insects with 100
and even 500 eyes,. but when the num-
Der OF optics allotted to q single insect
reaches up into the thousands the idea
is startling.
N~aturalists 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 as
many as SO, 900, each Of the two visible
to the ordinary observer being subdivid-
ed into Is. 900 separate lenses, each eye
let having a distinct nerve connecting
it with the brain and acting entirely
independently Of its myriads Of conn.,
panions. !.
The theory most generally adopted
by scientists is that, while far superior
to the eye Of higher animal life as re-
CARDS moving objects, the power OF OBJ
servation Of the composite eye is inferior
in its application to stationary things.
The reason is this: The moving object
is first observed by one Of the thousands
Of facets. which perceives it for the n
fnitesimal part Of q second that il takes
TO get out Of the arc Of vision OF that
particular lens and pass into that OF an
| other, each movement being separately
telegraphed to the brain by the facet on
duty. But with a stationary object 1t ii
different, since for some reason the
minor organ fails to focus accurately,
and so render the object less distinct
than when viewed by eyes OF only on
lens each.
A question which continues to puzzle
the scientists is whether the animal o.
insect sees as many images OF the object
as he has eyes. or facets For instance
does the dragon fly fancy he Is fitting
over SO, 900 ponds, or does he see onl.
one? Probably one. for the two eyes o
human being in normal condition SHOW
but . single image. Besides, apart from
the lenses and cones in front, the eye ]
a hollow sphere pierced by pe~rforation
running down the facets toward tn
center. It follows that the light impres
siens thus form q single picture. or me
sale, as il were, each facet presenting
sliRhtly different picture from its neigh
Dor and the group presenting = perfet
whole.
: There are many other animals po
sessed Of an extraordinary number
ewes. James Francis Stevens, q note
entomologist, is said to have recorde
. 1000 such species in his garden in OF
: afternoon, while Francis Eascoe, anotl
! er noted naturalist, counted so diferel
specimens ON his library window.
The common scallop, for instance, b
many eyes scattered irregularly over !
/. body. The lobster has massed togeth
!. in each orb more than q hundred di
tinct eyes, and, unlike human eye
these are set forward, instead Of bell
. sunk inward. Does the poor lobster s
things a hundredfold? II SO. possibly
is in avoiding the 90 imaginary lobst
. pots that he stumbles into the real OIL
The COMMON house fly has 1000 eye
the cabbage butterfly 1900, the dro
: fy g. 900, the honeybee $500. But st
ct the head of the list stands the mt
\ Quito hawk, on dragon fly, with !
SO, 900. As his name suggests, VIII
not despising any Of the smaller insect
his specially il the mosquito. Indeed
has 10 succeeded in terrorizing these
|. tie pests that his lifeless form still Fl
them with alarm. In localities whs
mosquitoes are troublesome an effectr
!. mode Of Kidding the place OF them &C
i sists in suspending a dead dragon
u from the ceiling by a piece OF threi
a Those who have tried it say that 1t
n never been known to fail.
"A Up to q certain point these mul
tudinous eyes may be compared to w
10 dows fitted with innumerable panes
= glass. The panes, however, are OF d
ferent forms. Some. like those OF
!. bee and the ant. are six sided. remit
"A ing us Of the pattern SO common
~ Gothic architecture. Some, again,
diamond shaped and others square.
Another interesting branch OF this
teresting subject is the study OF the u
and far sighted insects. Johanna N
Ter long ago pointed ont that the iii
Of insects depends upon their power
vision. This will account for the dir
ence in the fiights Of the common he
In Hy and the wasp. The q confines h
self to short flights. As his food Is
ways to be found within q small a
,er he dies in short curves and circles.
his the wasp is remarkably sharp sight
es. and the arrangement Of the lenses sh'
raj that his line Of vision il decidedly
yes ward. Here, again. the dragon fly il
!, eminent He has well been called