Abstract
RETURNING home on a very dark evening a few days ago, I saw on the ground a greenish phosphorescent light which, in the distance, I took to be a glowworm (Lampyris noctiluca), but a nearer approach showed a luminous thread-like worm of 1¼ inches in length, moving in curves along the gravel drive. I stooped and placed a finger and thumb on either side of the glowing thread without actually touching it, and in a few seconds observed that, aware of danger either from scent or vibration, the insect showed a remarkable power of control over its luminosity, invaluable for protection. It began to extinguish its light, and in a most peculiar fashion, not dying slowly out all over, but with a rapid wave of darkness sweeping from the tail to the head, then in a second or so glowing brightly all over again, repeating the manœuvre several times so long as my finger and thumb remained in its vicinity. A glass was brought, into which I transferred the insect, where it glowed with a lessened light for three or four hours. The next night the phosphorescence was very feeble, and on the morning following the insect was dead.
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THOMAS, R. A Luminous Centipede. Nature 53, 131 (1895). https://doi.org/10.1038/053131b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/053131b0
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