The Firefly

Fireflies II

There are many species of firefly illuminating the common summer garden, and while their bioluminescent blinking appears to be completely random, it is not. Most of the blinks we see in the warm night are actually males in search of a mate, and each kind of firefly blinks out a specific code. The females watch. When they see the code of a male of their own species and it suits their purposes, they blink back the same code. The male then approaches for breeding.

Occasionally, though, the female has another need in mind — hunger. In this situation, the female will watch the night sky for a while, and she will see a male not of her own species blinking out his code as he searches for a mate. The female will then blink out the code of that alien firefly species, and when he approaches, she will kill him and eat him.