Subject
Pale Fire's "arrant thieves" and the firebug's ( luciferine)
bioluminescence
bioluminescence
From
Date
Body
Lampyris noctiluca - are a Brazilian species of "firebug" popularly named "vagalume" ("wandering light) which is distinct from another kind - "pirilampo" or "fire lamp" - which belong to the "Elaperidae"( a kind of jumping beetle that sometimes has no "bioluminiscence").
The enzyme that produces the Lampyris light is named "luciferase". ( information gleaned from internet sources)
"Pale Fire" is often mentioned along the novel as referring to "borrowing light from someone else's own" ( like the moon's surface shines by reflecting the light of the sun ).
Firebugs have their own luminescence and would not qualify as "arrant thieves"...
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The enzyme that produces the Lampyris light is named "luciferase". ( information gleaned from internet sources)
"Pale Fire" is often mentioned along the novel as referring to "borrowing light from someone else's own" ( like the moon's surface shines by reflecting the light of the sun ).
Firebugs have their own luminescence and would not qualify as "arrant thieves"...
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm