THE UNDERSIDE OF A FIREFLY, GREATLY MAGNIFIED 



The light of the firefly comes from the two yellow segments near the tip of its abdomen, 

 as everyone knows w"ho has examined such an insect at night under a hand lens. The 

 light-making apparatus of the male (shown above) is larger than that of the female. 

 Ptreflies lay their eggs just under the surface of the soil, and the carnivorous larvae 

 hatch out in a few weeks. They hibernate under stones, spend three weeks in a pupal 

 stage, and then emerge as adult fireflies. The light-producing tissue can sometimes be 

 detected even in the egg; it is supposed to be a modification of fat tissue. Photograph, 

 twelve times natural size, by John Howard Paine. (Fig. 15 ) 



