The Virginia enterprise., 1904-09-02
MOST ECONOMICAL LIGHT.
That Of the Firedy Is Made Without
Any Determinable Loss
Of Material.

season. Electric lights put the firefy
at disadvantage in most parts of
New York. but he displays himse!.e
gloriously in the dusk of the Central
park woodlands and in unlighted Sub
urban grounds, says the New York
Sun.
: AS nobody knows much about the
FREELY, it is permitted to every OBJ
server to guess what the peculiarities
Of his conduct mean. Usually he
swims the atmosphere with moderate
and regular speed. Then suddenly,
without change of elevation, he darts
up and down, as If on some important
,errand. These. sudden changes Of
fight are attended with special brill
liancy of illumination. and it is the
guess Of the suburban observer that
the f1refy at such moments, even
though he is not carnivorous, may be
in search of prey. Romantic persons
prefer to think that he is signaling to
his mate and that his light is a love
lantern.
It is noticeable in the suburbs that
only the hardest rains serve to quen.h
the light of the FREELY. In all ordinary
night rains he sails about in apparent
unconcern, though perhaps he keeps a
bit nearer the earth than in fine
weather. AS matter of fact, on fine
nights in midsummer fireflies are seen
soaring nearly as high as treetops.
Rural observers say that after long
and hard rains attended with floods
in the lowlands ireflies are likely to
be noticeably scarce. It is the guess
of such observers that myriads of fire.
flies are drowned in long continued
storms
Early in the season, before the
nights are warm enough for the fire.
flies to be abroad, hundreds of them,
apparently young, but properly winged,
are found in the garrets of suburban
houses, apparently waiting their
chance to go abroad into the air of the
summer nights.
The f1refy's light: seems to be the
most economical illuminant known to
nature. The most delicate instruments
have been unable to detect any rise of
temperature accompanying the light,
and whatever loss of tissue takes place
is equally beyond human methods of
determination. Yet the f1refy's light
is a really considerable spark. i
AS reflected in the wet surface of
tagging on rainy night the light
makes an astonishing show, and If the
freely population of the town could
be caught and turned to the uses Of
man it would yield light Of good
many hundred candle power. A sin
gle freely crawling along a printed
page in the dark is enough to make
the words Immediately under the light
entirely visible to an ordinary eye,
and 1t is easy enough to believe, the
stories of those Brazilian savages wko
are said to light their huts with IRE
flies, and to use them in their, travels
by night. .-s .: sss5.S. Is
Brooklyn was astonished many years
ago by an escaped tropical FREELY, Just
as Paris had been set talking long
before by similar incident. Sailors
and Others from the tropics occasion-
ally bring the West Indian and South
American firefies to town, keeping
them alive in damp moss and feeding
tn them on sugar. One of these shows
9 greenish yellow light when still,
and q red light when flying. Accord
Ing to West Indians some OF their fire-
flies emit light that casts q distinct
81, shadow q In q dark room, story easy
enough TO believe. since the common
suburban FREELY does the like when
the object Is near, and the surface ID
receive the shadow is Close beneath
the insect. s.sE