Newark post., 1910-08-17
THE BEES VISION

No one ever questioned the fact that
,he honey bee can see. But every one
dnes not understand how much or how
,rell if can see The most of us are
satisfied If we can see straight ahead,
hut the honey bee can see in all direc-
t;ons at the same time. The bee has
G,e ewes Three Of these are set in a
tr;anple on the tor of the head-two
are clusters Of great number of small
nves These are set the one on the
right and the other On the LETT side Of
the head. These clusters of small eyes
ar composite. eyes, are formed Of
thousands of facets, SIX sided like the
cells of the honey comb. Thus they
noint in every direction, allowing the
bee TO see in all directions at once.
The power OF sight in the bee is mar
yelous. It can see great distance,
and no doubt these many-sided facets
allow it to see not only long distance
but to keep the relative position of the
objects in clear vision In this way
the bee will leave its home for the first
time. and after an absence of All hour
or more and having gone two or three
miles. where it has been sucking nee
tar from every flower, it will rise in the
air, crcing about until it has reached
height from which it can see the
whole country round, and It will make
bee-line for home, and when it alghts
it will be found that it will alight upon
the very spot on the aliehting board
from which it rose to leave the hive.
The ordinary hive has an entrance
about ,ot wide or the full width of
the hive. 1t is frequently necessary to
close up part OF the entrance and some,
times the bee-keeper changes the en-
trance. l. e. il the bees are allowd to
go out and in on the right side he NAV
move the block over, closing the right
side and opening the left side. The
the right side and will be much per-
picked before they can find the en-.
trance. Also il bees find some pastures
green, no matter how far from the hive
it may be, when they have denosited
their stores in the hive, will rush out
and rising into the air make bee line
70 rthe rewlytound pasture and re-
turn to the very spot thev left.
Those composite or cluster of eyes
are evidently used in the outdoor work
while the three eyes on top of the head
have power which applies tn the dark
home within, enabling the INTO move
around in the dark and carry on the
work without cessation
This might find confirmation in the
fact that the number of the eyes in
the cluster differs in the different
bees in the colony according as greatei
or less power Of vision is needed.
1t may be we'll TO designate just by a
word at tii:s point the different bees If
a colony.
I. There is the queen-larger, more
beautiful, more royal in appearance
than any other-only one such in 4
hive. p The drone, the male bee noted
for his laziness-larger than the work
er bee, short and chunky, not long anc
slim like the queen. 3. The worke1
bee. This is an imperfect female. I
does al the work OF the hive.
Now the worker bee spends a largei
part of the time out in the open air
while the queen seldom goes out. oni'
once or twice a year 1t would bt
nothing more than would te expected
then, If the worker bee had NOR,
power of vision than the queen, ant
this is true There were found to b,
no less than 6soo facets in each of tn,
composite eyes OF worker, while tn
queen only showed 1920. On the othe
hand. the drOne. while amounting t.
very little in the hiv" for neither tn
drone or queen take any notice OF on
another in the hive) finds it very ne
cessary to have an extremely sharl
vision when he seeks to WOO the qdeel
some bright day in the air lthis in
teresting episode in bee fe will b
described later) The rumber OF facet
in each OF the composite eyes OF tn
drone was found to be no less tha
$1,000 What wonders in. hill an
plain-in the sceuery all about us
must be revealed to the bee throug
this marve'ous instrument Wha
beauty in the lily, n the flower, in tn
blossom must te opened up to the be
that is neve, to be seen by man.