292 NATURE AND WOODCRAFT. 



fire-flies in bags of lace or gauze, and wear 

 them amid their hair or disposed about their 

 persons. The luminosity of our modest British 

 insect is far outshone by several of its con- 

 geners. Some of these are used in various 

 ways for illumination, and it is said that the 

 brilliancy of the light is such that the smallest 

 print can be read by that proceeding from the 

 thoracic spots alone when a single insect is 

 moved along the lines. 



In the Spanish settlements, the fire-flies are 

 frequently used in a curious way when travel- 

 ling at night. The natives tie an insect to 

 each great toe, and on fishing and hunting 

 expeditions make torches of them by fastening 

 several together. The same people have a 

 summer festival, at which the garments of the 

 young people nre covered with fire-flies, and, 

 being on fine horses similarly ornamented ; the 

 latter gallop through the dusk, the whole pro- 

 ducing the effect of a large moving light. 



Another phosphorescent little creature found 

 commonly in Britain is a centipede with the 

 expressive name Geophilus electricus. This is 

 a tiny living light which shows its luminosity 

 in a remarkable and interesting fashion. It 



