How does a Firefly Glow at Night?

            The glowing fireflies or glow-worms have always fascinated man. They present a wonderful sight at night. Scientists have been trying to find out form the very beginning how and why fireflies emit light.

A chemical substance called luciferin present in the abdomen of a glow-worm combines with oxygen

            The firefly is, in fact, a flying worm. Both the male and the female of this worm have wings. In some species, however, females are without wings and are known as glow-worms. They are blackish and their bodies are very soft. They mainly live on the nectar of the flowers. They are found in large number in the tropical humid areas. They emit light in flashes.

            The light producing organ is located in the bottom of the abdomen in the rear side and controlled by nerves. It contains two chemicals named luciferin and luciferase. Luciferin combines with oxygen to produce light. Luciferase acts as a catalyst for this reaction. It is interesting to note that the light emitted by them produces on heat. Such as process of production of light is called bio-luminescence. Luciferin is the active luminescent material in the fireflies. The firefly can control the length and rhythm of the flashes from the abdomen.

            Fireflies usually emit yellow orange light. Today scientists can produce such lights in their laboratories. But that can only be done by extracting lucieferin and luciferase from the fireflies. Fireflies are usually 4 to 11 millimeters in length.

            Now one may wonder why a firefly produces light. The first reason is that both the male and female fireflies emit light to attract each other. The second reason may be that the light so produced may frighten birds and prevent for this, these fireflies produce a spectacular sight.

Why do Flowers have Fragrance?

            Whenever we pass thorough garden during the spring season, the fragrance of flowers enchants us. Nature has endowed flowers with beauty, attractive colors, nectar and fragrance. Insects and flies get attracted to flowers and sit on them, and when they fly off, they carry with them the pollen grains to the flowers. This dispersing of pollen grains helps in cross pollination of flowers, as a result of which, seeds are produced. In this way, plants and trees multiply on their own.

Fragrance of flowers attract insects which help in pollination

            Different flowers contain different oils, which give them a specific fragrance. As these oils gradually keep on evaporating, the fragrance of the flowers spreads in the air. In fact, perfumes are prepared form the oils extracted from these flowers. There are various processes of making perfumes. In one process, flowers are kept in a pot through which steam is passed. The outgoing steam, takes out the oil, which is then passed through water. The oil brought out by the steam starts floating on water. This is then separated. There are other methods too.

            France produces the maximum amount of perfumes. It has been found that one ounce of rose perfume is extracted from 110 of rose flowers. Flowers like rose, Pandarus, lavender, jasmine, etc., are generally used for making perfumes.

            The anthocyanin pigment is responsible for producing red, blue and violet colors. The plastid pigment causes other colors. These pigments remain mixed in the juice of the flowers. The presence of chlorophyll and carotene make some flowers green. There are at least 200,000 kinds of flowers, ranging in size form the microscopic duckweed blossom with a diameter of 0.4 millimeter to the tropical Rafflesia with a diameter of 90 centimeter.

How do Bees Makes Honey?

            We have ever wondered how the honey that we enjoy at our breakfast table each day is prepared. It is a fascinating story.

            Bees live in colonies. A honeybee colony consists of three categories of bees, the workers, the drones and the queen bee. The workers provide food and protection to the colony, the drones or fertile males who mate with the queen, and finally the queen, who lays eggs.

Honey is made by the worker bees in the beehive

            An average honey beehive contains one queen, 100 drones and 60,000 workers. The workers are female bees while drones are male. The queen bee lays more than 2,000 eggs a day and about 250,000 eggs in a season. It lays more than 1,000,000 eggs in its lifetime. Bees have life span of one to two years. The worker bees have many duties. In the beginning, they clean and polish the hives. After some days, they look after the larvae of the bees. Eventually, they go out to collect the nectar form flowers. Do you know how these bees make money?

            In fact honey is their food, and so, for the bees, making honey is like collecting food from flowers. The flowers contain sweet liquid called nectar. The bees drink this nectar and carry it to the beehive in their honey sacs. A bee must visit about 1000 flowers to fill its honey sac. The honey sac is located near the belly of the bee. A valve separates it from the belly. The sugar present in the nectar undergoes a chemical reaction. The water present in the nectar evaporates, and honey is formed, which can be stored in the hive for a very long time.

            There are many ways of extracting honey form the hive. The comb can be squeezed to yield honey. A machine called honey extractor is also available for removing honey from the combs. The color and taste of various kinds of honey vary depending upon collected. Honey contains many substances, which include two kinds of sugar- laevulose, enzymes, many vitamins, small amounts of proteins and acids. That is why honey is good for our health and fitness.