Excerpt from Common Insects, as Seen Through the Microscope: Written to Accompany a Series of Thirty-Seven Photo-Micrographic Lantern SlidesThese ¿ies glow at night with a peculiar luminosity, similar to that of our glowworms, except that the light is more intense, and proceeds from the thorax, whereas in the glowworm it proceeds from the abdomen. In all cases the cause appears to be a luminous secretion, Dr. Darwin thought of a phosphoric nature, but this is not admitted by other authorities, and the intensity of the light appears to depend on the insect itself to a great extent, as it waxes and wanes without any apparent outward cause.When disturbed, the light usually increases, and this is supposed to be caused by the quicker. Pulsation of the blood. In some districts the fire¿ies' are so numerous as to produce a general illumination, and the natives, we are told, in some parts of South America, have been in the habit of collecting these insects to use as lamps at night.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.