FIREFLY

a name popularly given to any winged insect which gives out light. Except the lantern-fly, the fireflies are all beetles, and are members of two nearly allied families, the Elate rides or skipjacks, and Lampyride, to which the glow-worm belongs. The British glow-worm has too little luminosity to entitle it to the name of firefly, but the Lampgris italic a and L. corusea of Canada are allied to it. True fireflies are found only in the warmer regions of the earth.. The Elater or Pyrophorus noctilucus of South America and the West Indies is one of the most brilliant, giving out its light from two eye-like tubercles on the thorax. Their light is so powerful that small print may be read by it, and in Hayti they are used to give light for domestic purposes, eight or ten confined in a phial emitting sufficient light to enable a person to write. FIRE INSURANCE. Insurance against lo by fire is one of the oldest and most important branches of insurance. It is undertaken by all large offices and practically every palais in the civilized world is insure against fire, as well as furniture ard other household po e ions. in Great Britain the premium on an ordinary house or shop is very low, but it is higher on factories, especially those where any inflammable material is used. The premium is reduced in cases where fire extinguishing apparatus is installed.