PAPERS OX PSYCHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY 111 



poetrv of heaven, earth has nothing more j)oetic than the 

 tropical firefly." (6) 



*'0n approaching in canoes, a scene of wondrous 

 beauty presented itself. The light was due to miniature 

 lamps of several thousands of fireflies which were hold- 

 ing festival over what appeared to be a breeding 

 ground." (13) 



"As the stage rounded one of the numerous curves on 

 the grade there appeared on our left, apparently in mo- 

 tion, a ghostly incandescence which came and went in 

 regularly repeated flashes and intervals of darlmess. The 

 appearance was uncanny and was plainly visible to all 

 the passengers in the stage. " (21) 



The writer has never witnessed s^Tichronic flashing of 

 this sort but he is convinced that its first appearance 

 must throw the observer into an attitude of astonishment 

 at the beauty of the effect. As our experiments later 

 to be described indicate, the same result has been pro- 

 duced even under artificial conditions of the laboratory. 

 And since few of the reported observations have been re- 

 peated, statements concerning the phenomenon may be 

 made without being subject to verification rmder the same 

 conditions. 



2. Again, ^^ith few exceptions, notably those of Morse 

 (21) and Hudson (13), the synchronism was noticed by 

 but a single obsei-ver in any one case. Concerning some 

 of the conflicting points in the several reports there can 

 be therefore no safeguarded confirmation. As some of 

 the statements indicate, at any rate, the phenomenon is 

 in most places of observation particularly rare in occur- 

 rence. Allard (1) thinks that "one may consider himself 

 fortunate if he has observed the iDlienomenon even once 

 in a lifetime, his observation having occurred more than 

 a dozen years ago, and Morse (20) first reported an ex- 

 perience of fifty years ago. Even though there are a good 

 many independent reports of different occasions, an in- 

 stance simultaneously reported by several individuals is 

 rare in the literature. 



3. This scarcity of testimony concerning the identical 

 event is furthermore embarrassed by conflicting reports 



