During starry nights, this bioluminescent beetle spends its time fluttering above bushes or lawns, hence its nickname fire fly. The Florentine writer Dante found its name after 1300, baptizing it lucciola (the little light) in Hell, first part of The Divine Comedy. This Italian word became lufly in French from the 18th century. The light produced can be yellow or green. The frequency and intensity of flashes depends on the species and sex. The male thus seeks to be noticed by a female lying on the ground. This (the glowworm itself) is often incapable of flying. She responds – or not – to her beacon calls.
The earwig, he came to grip
Since the Renaissance, people have been keen on the forficula (from the Latin forficula, small scissors). Its two pincer-shaped hooks are reminiscent of the tweezers then used by the goldsmith to pierce the lobe of an ear. The insect was therefore nicknamed earwig from 1564. According to another explanation, the ear designates, in fact, a quarter of an apricot. This nocturnal omnivore, fond of fruits and aphids, is very popular with children because of its worrying appearance and its often misunderstood name. Of course, he never enters a sleeper’s pavilion to pierce his eardrum! Its claws (or cerques) are used to repel an attacker, if it has time to turn around…
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