Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/702

FIREFLY. luminous than the adult male lightning-bugs. “The larvæ are flattened, often dark-colored and velvety, and have an ocellus on each side of the retractile head; they are generally carnivorous, living under stones and bark, and upon the ground, where they devour snails and larvæ of insects. Sometimes the velvety larvæ of certain species of Telephorus wander about upon the snow, giving rise to stories of showers of worms.”

The family Lampyridæ is confined to warm or tropical lands, and is very abundant in southern Europe and in most parts of the United States. Fireflies are gregarious, and their luminosity is most evident on warm, dark nights. The light-giving part is situated ordinarily on the sides of the abdomen, and the light is greenish-white, like phosphorescence; but in South America there is a remarkable form, probably a female of the group Phengodini, which flashes a red light at each end of the body and a green light along the sides, suggesting signals, so that it is known in Paraguay as the railway beetle. The emission of light by the lampyrid lightning-bugs and glowworms is intermittent, but at definite intervals, in one case averaging about thirty-six flashes a minute, but this varies a little from night to night, perhaps with the temperature. The function of the light of Lampyridæ is unknown to us, but since many of the fireflies have unusually well-developed eyes, and since most of them are active at night, the flash would seem in some way to be important for the firefly. In some forms (as Pyrophorus) not only both sexes, but the eggs, larvæ, and pupæ are luminous. A common species of lampyrid firefly in the eastern United States is Photuris Pennsylvanica, about half an inch long, yellowish and obscurely striped; its luminous larva has a brush-like anal leg. A Western species is Photuris pyralis, which has brownish-black elytra margined with dull yellow, and whose larvæ live in the ground and feed upon worms. The most familiar European species is the common glowworm of England (Lampyris noctiluca), of which the blackish female, half an inch in length, is entirely wingless and without elytra, and crawls about in the grass emitting a soft, steady light, occasionally interrupted. The males and the larvæ are also faintly luminous, the latter being noted for their voracity and their devouring of snails. In another genus, plentiful in southern Europe, both males and females are winged and luminous, the male giving a stronger light than the female.

The second family that contains luminous beetles is the Elateridæ. These give forth at will a steady light, and are all tropical American beetles of the genus Pyrophorus. There are about 100 species of this genus, but not all are luminous. These wonderful insects were seen and described by some of the early explorers of America, but even to-day only one form, the cucuyo (Pyrophorus noctilucus), has been studied. It has two yellowish ‘eye-like lamps’ on each side of the prothorax through which light shines. The ventral surface of the abdomen is also strongly luminous, but this light is only evident when the insect is in flight. These beetles are frequently used as ornaments for the hair, especially in Vera Cruz. They are blackish-brown and nearly two inches in length, so that one may believe the report that the Indians sometimes use them as lanterns.

The firefly produces light practically without loss of heat or chemical rays, but concerning the method of the production of this most economical light we know little. An account of what has been learned of the nature and purpose of this luminosity will be found in the article.  FIRE INSURANCE. It is impossible to determine just when a scientific system of insurance against loss by fire was first introduced. The principle of mutual aid in times of distress was embodied in many societies both in ancient and in mediæval times, and one of the generally recognized occasions for such aid arose when the property of a member was destroyed by fire. In the ordinances of the guilds of the later Middle Ages, for example, we find regulations for the payment of a certain amount of indemnity to any member who suffered loss of property by fire. This amount was sometimes paid out of the funds of the guild, and was sometimes raised by a specific assessment on the other members. In neither case were the essential principles of insurance observed. There was no separation of the insurance fund from the other funds of the guild, and no payments to the guild by the members based on the risk which the guild assumed. The indemnity bore no definite relation to the amount of loss, or to the amount which the members had paid to the guild, but was either fixed beforehand as a uniform sum or a uniform contribution from each member, or else was arbitrarily fixed by the guild itself after the loss had occurred.

The earliest recorded proposal for the establishment of a scientific fire-insurance company in England was made in 1635. The first office was opened by N. Barbon, in London, in 1667, the year after the great fire. It is highly probable that the business had already been introduced on the Continent. Barbon’s method was that of individual underwriting. The first joint-stock association for insuring against loss by fire was established in 1681. The oldest surviving English company, the Hand in Hand, was founded in 1696. No less than five other existing English companies date back to 1720 or earlier.

The first fire-insurance company in the United States was opened at Philadelphia in 1752, and incorporated in 1768. It was called the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire. Benjamin Franklin was one of its first directors. This company still survives. It is a mutual company, and writes only perpetual risks. Its business is confined to the State of Pennsylvania. The development of the fire-insurance business was slow at first, being greatly retarded by the financial and industrial disturbances due to the Revolution. Before the end of the eighteenth century, however, at least thirty charters had been granted to companies for carrying on the business. Among the oldest existing companies may be mentioned the Insurance Company of North America and the Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, both located in Philadelphia and both incorporated in 1794; the Mutual Assurance Company of the City of Norwich (Conn.), which began business in 1795; and the Providence Washington Insurance Company, of Providence, R. I., incorporated in 1799. The 