The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1904-09-10
That Of the Firefy 70 Made Without
ANY Discriminate Loss
OF Material.

Nov is the high noon OF the freely
season. Electric lights put the freely
ct disadvantage in most parts d
New York. but he displays himse1'
gloRiously in the dusk of TIE Central
park woodlands and in unlighted sub
urban grounds, says the New York
Sun.
AS nobody Rnows much about the
freely, it Is permitted to every OBJ
OF his conduct meah- 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
flight are attended with special bril-
liancy OF illumination. and it is the
guess Of the suburban observer that
the FREELY at such moments, even
though he is not carniyorous, may be
in search of prey. Romantic persons
prefer to think that he is signaling to
lantern
It is noticeable in the suburbs that
only the hardest rains serve to quench
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 fne
weather. AS matter of fact, on fine
nights in midsummer f1ref1ies are seen
soariag nearly as high as treetops.
Rural observers say that after long
and hard rains attended with foods
in She loWlands fref1ies are likely to
be aeticeably scarce. 1t 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 drefy's light seems to be the
most economical iIluminant 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 frefy's light
is really considerable spark.
As reflected in the wet surface of
Tagging on a rainy night the light
makes an astonishing show, and If the
tref1y population of the town could
be caught and turned to the uses of
man it would yield light of a 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 eve.
and it is easy enough to believe the
stories Of those Brazilian savages who
are said to light their huts with fire.
ales, and to use them in their travels
by night
Brooklyn was astonished many years
ago by an escaped tropical freely, lust
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 f1refiies to town, keeping |
Them alive in damp moss and feeding
them on sugar. One of these shows
} greenish yellow light when still, |
and red light when flying. Accord
ng 70 West Indians some OF their fire.
lies emit light that casts distinct |
shadow in dark room, story easy 7
enough to believe. since the common
suburban freely does the like when |
he object is near, and the surface to
'eeeive the shadow is close beneath |
he insect.