In addition to these little hearing holes, there are others called the “smell hollows”; they too are exceedingly numerous and minute. Each of the last eight joints of the worker bee’s antennæ is stated to have fifteen rows, and twenty smell hollows in each row! That is to say, there are over 2400 in each antenna. The queen has not quite so many, having, as a matter of fact, about 1600 on each; but the drone is possessed of the most of all, and his number reaches the astonishing figure of 37,000 hollows on each antenna. Every one of those hollows is a little nose, so that the bee’s power of smell must be very keen. What with the different kinds of hairs, so numerous and yet each with a separate nerve, the hearing holes, and lastly the smell hollows, you will, I feel sure, agree that the antennæ are most complicated, and you will understand why I call this chapter “The Wonderful Antennæ.” CHAPTER VIII THE EYES The same tiny head, which carries the marvelous antennæ, is provided with two large “compound” eyes, as they are called. If you are able to examine these eyes with a magnifying glass, you will at once see that they are lovely objects. The eye itself is of a deep purplish-black colour, and has an appearance which is rather difficult to describe. It seems almost as though it is covered with the finest satin, for it glistens in the sunlight. The microscope shows that this appearance is due to the eye being composed of multitudes of six-sided cells, resembling, in fact, nothing so much as a piece of honeycomb. These cells are called _facets_, which means “little faces,” and each one measures about 1/1000th part of an inch in diameter. Over the surface of the eye are distributed numerous long, straight hairs; the chief purpose of these hairs is to protect the delicate facets, just as the eyelashes of our own eyes protect them. Bees have no eyelids, as we have, and so they have to rely upon these hairs to protect their eyes from dust and other such foreign bodies. The construction of the eye itself is wonderful to a degree, but it is also very difficult to understand, because it is so complicated and minute.