Figure 1. Photinus pyralis I-instar larva is almost translucent when it first emerges from its egg case. This affords an excellent opportunity to photograph the young larvae and observe internal structures. To see more photographs visit the Firefly Gallery. |
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After mating the females which are much larger than the males of this species would then begin looking for a place to lay their eggs. I learned from trial and error that P. pyralis femals will readily deposit their eggs in a steril moist mixture of soil, moss and activated charcoal; hence, fertile females of P. pyralis would be places in small jars so prepared with this egg laying mix and soon I would see their small pearl-like eggs scattered beneath the soil. A single P. pyralis female may deposite 250 - 300 eggs before she expires. These eggs begin to hatch about 12 to 14 days after being deposited. Hence I was able to collect many firefly eggs and larve using this method, the tiny specimens finding themselves objects and focus of my attention under high magnification. Thus over the years I have accumulated a nice collection of photographs of I-instar firefly larve which are translucent when they first emerge from eggs, and hence ideal for examination and photographing. Where once I might have been content merely sketching a firefly or incorporating its realistic image or flash into an oil painting, I now find myself fashioning digital images and graphic designs of fireflies and their eggs or larvae. These may be realistic or abstract in nature -- or extremely distorted and synthesized by graphic filters, lenses, and other graphic image manipulation software to create what I like to call metamorphic art. Thus Firefly Art is no longer the mere realistic illustration or photography of a firefly as it naturally occrus, but is a synthesis of images in part or whole, which use one or more photograph or element of a photograph, much like an Old Master might have dipped his brush into paint upon a pallet, to then mix a color and apply it to canvas to creat an image. In the modern world of digital art every image of a Firefly, its egg or larvae, becomes an element for a new design. Thus may emerge figures and forms never drempt nor even imagined, for often algorithmic programs applied to an original photograph or graphic image will crate the most bizarr of assemilations. These become even more bizarr when one repeats the process time and again with the same or multiple images. The end result, that metamorpich art thus created, is quite wonderous to behold. Exhibited below you will find a number of Firefly Art creations plus an emporium featuring many of my Firefly Art creations which are available upon gifts and apparel that everyone who enjoys the romance of fireflies may express themselves and their passion for these most wondrous of creatures. Should you wonder why they may be more expensive than other products, remember, to produce many of these images I first had to play the role of a mother firefly, a task few others, if any, have mastered so well as I.
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If you would like to reprint or publish any of the images used to illustrate this article you must obtain prior written permission and/or license from the author/photographer/artist, Terry Lynch.
