The Spectral Distribution of Firefly Light

Seliger , H. H.; Buck , J. B.; Fastie , W. G.; McElroy , W. D.

doi:10.1085/jgp.48.1.95

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Article| September 01 1964

The Spectral Distribution of Firefly Light

H. H. Seliger,

H. H. Seliger

From the McCollum-Pratt Institute, Department of Biology and Department of Physics, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and the Laboratory of Physical Biology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda

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J. B. Buck,

J. B. Buck

From the McCollum-Pratt Institute, Department of Biology and Department of Physics, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and the Laboratory of Physical Biology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda

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W. G. Fastie,

W. G. Fastie

From the McCollum-Pratt Institute, Department of Biology and Department of Physics, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and the Laboratory of Physical Biology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda

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W. D. McElroy

From the McCollum-Pratt Institute, Department of Biology and Department of Physics, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and the Laboratory of Physical Biology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda

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Author and Article Information

H. H. Seliger

From the McCollum-Pratt Institute, Department of Biology and Department of Physics, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and the Laboratory of Physical Biology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda

J. B. Buck

From the McCollum-Pratt Institute, Department of Biology and Department of Physics, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and the Laboratory of Physical Biology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda

W. G. Fastie

From the McCollum-Pratt Institute, Department of Biology and Department of Physics, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and the Laboratory of Physical Biology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda

W. D. McElroy

From the McCollum-Pratt Institute, Department of Biology and Department of Physics, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and the Laboratory of Physical Biology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda

Received: April 03 1964

Online ISSN: 1540-7748

Print ISSN: 0022-1295

1964

J Gen Physiol (1964) 48 (1): 95–104.

https://doi.org/10.1085/jgp.48.1.95

The in vivo emission spectra of sixteen species of Jamaican fireflies and four species of American fireflies have been measured with a photoelectric recording spectrometer. A simple technique of stimulation with ethyl acetate vapor was found to elicit bright continuous emission over a period of several minutes. Although the luciferin-luciferase cross-reactions were positive in all cases tested, peak intensity wavelengths show distinct species differences, ranging from 5520 to 5820 A. Widely separated emission peaks arise from the thoracic and abdominal organs respectively in the same animal, the click-beetle, Pyrophorus.

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