Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-04-29
ARGUS 0UTP0INTED.
AN INSECT THAT is CREDITED WITH
THlRTY-SIx THOUSAND EYES.

scientists nave hhu" some wonderful Dis
coveries In This Line, but They Give tho
Palm to the Common Dragon FIy-In.
teresting Natural History.
Thirty-six thousand eyes in ono hcadl
This may appear little ike oxaRgere-
ton, but 1t is II fact. Science, backod bv
the microscope, says so, and science
never stretches the truth Should it do
so it would cease to be science.
Argus was tabled to have hundred
eyes, but Argus would be a very insig-
niiicant curiosity compared with the
latest discovery in the insect kingdom.
There are numbers OF insects with 100
and even 800 eyes, hut when the mum
Der of optics allotted to single insect
reaches up into the thousands the idea
is startling
Naturnists have recently been cnrap-
ed in the study of this most intcrcstipc
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, coo, each Of the two visible
to the ordinary observer being suldiyid-
ed into IS, 600 separate lenses, each eye
let having distinct nerve connecting
it with the brain and acting entirely
independently of its myriads of com
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 Oh
servation of the composite eye is inferior
in its application to stationary things.
The reason is this: Tho moving object
is first observed by one Of the thousands
of facets, which percoivos it for the in.
fnitesimal part of second that it 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 che facet on
duty. But with Il stationary object 1t is
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 one
lens each.
A question which continues to puzzle
the scientists is whether the animal or
insect sees as many images Of the objects
as he has eyes, or facets. For instance,
does the dragon fly fancy he is fitting
over 30, 600 ponds, or does he see only
one? 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 perforations
running down the facets toward tho
center. It follows that the light impress
sions thus form n single picture, or mo-
sale, as it were, each facet presenting
slightly different picture from its neigh
boz and the group presenting a perfect
whole.
There are many other animals pos
sessed of an extraordinary number of
| eyes. James Francis Stevens, noted
entomologist, is said to have recorded
1000 such species in his garden in one
afternoon, while Franc;7 Pascoe, anoth-
er noted naturalist, counted so different
specimens on his library window
The common scallop, for instance, has
many eyes scattered irregularly over its
body. The lobster has massed together
| in 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 in avoiding the 90 imaginary lobster
| pots that he stumbles into the real one.
| The common house fly has 1000 eyes,
the cabbage butterfly 1900, the drone
fly 5000, the honeybee $500. But still
at the head of the list stands the mos
| quito hawk, or dragon fly, with his
S6, 900. As his name suggests, while
not despising any of the smaller insects,
his speciality is the mosquito Indeed he
has so succeeded in terrorizing these lit
tie pests that his lifeless form still fills
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 a piece Of thread.
Those who have tried it say that it has
never been known 10 fail.
Up to Il certain point these multi
tudinous eyes may be compared to win
dows fitted with innumerable panes of
glass. The panes, however, are of diff
ferent forms Some, like those of tho
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 near
and far sighted insects. Johanna Null
Ter long ago pointed out that 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 DO found within small area,
no 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. lie has well been called the
Grant Of the mir. He alone is able to
l