Blogtrek

Fireflies

This evening on our front lawn we saw more than the usual number of fireflies. They were blinking all over the place, on our lawn, and across the street in the woods. It reminds me of when I was a teenager going on a trip with my parents. Passing through Virginia, my brother and I caught about fifty fireflies apiece in glass jars. They were really numerous then, and have since been scarcer. Tonight's firefly explosion reminds me of those times, back in the early 1960's.

From the Internet, I find that fireflies are a beetle with a soft underside that glows under certain nervous commands. Fireflies usually glow to find a mate, but stress, such as a nearby Fourth of July firecracker, and cause them to glow. Males and females glow back and forth to communicate their location and to facilitate their coming together.

It made me think of an interesting thought. What if humans had the luminescence of fireflies? Since fireflies glow when they are finding mates, suppose humans glowed when aroused. I think we would hold back on getting aroused by the sight of an attractive person for fear of letting everyone know by glowing. What would be most interesting is a power outage at night, or in a windowless building. Then people would make out with each other to glow bright enough to see where they're going, and at campouts at night, people would get aroused and would not need flashlights. This could make the setting of a fantasy or science fiction story.

We'll have to settle for looking at these bugs that light up summer nights and marvel at how they do it.