Compound eyes: old and new optical mechanisms

Abstract

Over the last twenty years classical views of how compound eyes work optically have undergone a series of overhauls. Exner's central concept of an optically inhomogeneous lens cylinder has survived, and such devices are now made commercially. He was wrong, however, about some crustacean eyes. They produce images by a mirror mechanism that was not discovered until 1975, and which now shows promise as an optical system capable of development.