FIREFLY 



2182 



FIRELESS COOKER 



are not enforced, the world is often shocked 

 by great loss of life in a serious fire. 



Fire Alarms, for giving warning of an out- 

 break of fire, are usually electrical. In nearly 

 every large city alarm boxes, usually of iron, 

 and fitted with doors or glass windows, are 

 placed at frequent intervals in prominent out- 

 door locations. To give the alarm the window 

 is broken or the door opened, and a handle 

 inside is pulled. An electric circuit, thus closed, 

 rings an alarm in the main fire office and in 

 all the stations of the district in which the 

 fire is located. In large buildings automatic 

 alarms are installed; in case of fire the rise 

 in temperature closes a circuit and rings the 

 fire station gongs. F.ST.A. 



FIREFLY, the name given to several groups 

 of beetles found in warm and tropical regions, 

 whose distinguishing characteristic is their 



bed 

 THE FIREFLY 

 Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro' 



the mellow shade, 



Glitter like a swarm of fireflies tangled 

 in a silver braid. 



Tennyson : Locksley Hall. 

 The illustration shows: (a) Larva; (ft) pupa; 

 (c) mature insect, under side; (d) same, viewed 

 from above. 



power to glow in the darkness like a spark 

 of fire. The light-giving organ consists of 

 fatty tissue supplied with numerous air tubes 

 and nerves; the nerves stimulate the air tubes 

 and the latter convey to the fatty tissue ' the 

 oxygen which, by a process little understood, 

 produces the light. Usually the luminous part 

 is situated on the sides of the abdomen, and 

 the light is greenish-white. A common Amer- 

 ican firefly, or "lightning bug," which ranges 

 from Illinois southward, is about one-half an 

 inch long and blackish in color, with red and 

 yellow markings. 



In many cases the larvae (young) and the 

 eggs of the firefly are also luminous. Wing- 

 less forms also possess this property, notably 

 the glowworm of England and the European 

 continent, which is the wingless female of the 

 common firefly. Another wingless form is the 

 railway-beetle of Paraguay, a wormlike crea- 

 ture three inches long, which sends forth a 

 strong, red light from both ends of its body, 



and a green light from points on its sides. 

 Its name refers to the colors of the lights, 

 which suggest railway signals. 



Some of the uses to which these interesting 

 creatures are put are worthy of mention. The 

 luminous click beetle of the tropics, which 

 emits a strong greenish light, is sometimes 

 placed in a lace pocket of the Cuban lady's 

 gown or attached to her golden chain. Spanish 

 ladies wrap fireflies in gauze and use them 

 as hair ornaments. The natives in tropical 

 countries have been known to put a number 

 of them in bottles, and to use them as lan- 

 terns. Men traveling through dense forests at 

 night sometimes attach fireflies to their boots 

 to illuminate the path before them. It is 

 said, also, that certain tropical birds use these 

 insects to light their nests. 



FIRE 'LESS COOK'ER, a modem invention 

 by means of which great economy of fuel, of 

 time and of labor is effected. The cooker is 

 based on the same principle as the thermos 

 bottle; it has an inner containing vessel sur- 

 rounded by non-conducting materials, so that 

 heat can escape only very slowly from the 

 substance placed in the vessel. See THERMOS 

 BOTTLE. 



The process consists of thoroughly heating 

 or partially cooking the food and then placing 

 it in the fireless apparatus, which keeps it hot 

 until the cooking is completed. Many types 

 of fireless cookers are on the -market, alike in 

 principle but different in minor detail. The 

 non-conducting materials generally in use are 

 mineral wool and asbestos. The fireless 

 cooker, under the name of the "hay-box," has 

 been used for many years by the Norwegians. 

 Women who go to work in fields prepare the 

 hot dish for the family supper before leaving 



THE FIRELESS COOKER, AS PURCHASED 



home in the morning. The supper is packed 

 away in the "hay-box," which is exactly what 

 its name implies, to continue the process of 

 cooking until the family returns at night. 



