2808: Daytime Firefly

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Daytime Firefly

Title text: Mr. Jones, watch out for Ms. Lenhart! She's from genus Photuris!

Explanation

Some things are associated with being seen so much in a given context that it can be surprising to see them anywhere else. This comic starts with the initially trivial incident of a famously night-time outdoor insect, a firefly, being discovered indoors and during the day.

This quickly becomes another typical observation, that of the experience of a schoolchild seeing someone, whom they normally only encounter in the classroom, 'in the real world'. This may not be strange in small, close-knit communities, but can still be seen as extraordinary, and is sometimes an event that happens after the child (and/or teacher) has left the school, after several years have passed, and is a sign that they are now more equal citizens rather than tutor and student with vastly different non-overlapping lives outside of education.

Unlike fireflies, teachers, or indeed humans, generally do not bioluminesce, or flit around in the open air.^{[citation needed]} But that scenario is where the analogy quickly turns, imagining Mr Jones (named as the teacher concerned) behaving like such an insect. Such an encounter would be at least as awkward as bumping into them in a semi-social situation, and the conversation you'd be having could be terribly stilted.

The idea of an outdoor, night-time encounter often involving the deliberate flashing of lights could also bring to mind another activity where car lights can be used to signal participation, with perhaps a not too dissimilar motive to that of fireflies in the mating flights, in which it might indeed be... 'awkward'... for students and teachers to unexpectedly encounter each other.

The title text continues the conversation with some sage advice, to the firefly-teacher, to avoid Miss Lenhart (presumably, but here with the honorific of Ms.), another teacher of their acquaintance whom they believe to belong to an aggressively mimicking genus of predatory firefly, and thus a potential danger to his existence. The females of those species are known to copy the blinking mating patterns of other firefly species in order to lure the males of those species with the promise of mating but with the true sole intent of eating them. The speaker is clearly concerned that Mr. Jones, while acting out the life of a firefly, will be fooled by Ms. Lenhart's firefly persona and then consumed.

Transcript

[Cueball is pointing at a flying insect to the right. Megan is walking towards it.]

Cueball: There's a bug in here.

Megan: Oh, it's a firefly!

Cueball: Wait, really?

Megan: Yeah! I dunno which species. I'll let it out.

[Cueball is standing to the left. Megan has caught the firefly between her hands.]

Cueball: ...I guess it makes sense fireflies have to go somewhere during the day.

Cueball: I had just never thought about it.

[Megan is walking to the left while holding the firefly. Cueball is standing to the right.]

Cueball: It's like seeing your teacher at the store.

Cueball: "Oh, weird, you exist in other contexts, too."

[Megan standing on a grass field has released the firefly.]

Megan: Or when you see your teacher hovering over a field at night giving off flashes of light.

Cueball (off-panel): Yeah, also weird.

Cueball (off-panel): "Sorry Mr. Jones! Uh, have...fun? See you Monday."

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Discussion

Do fireflies still blink when it's light out? If not, I'm not sure how someone could easily tell that some random flying insect is a firefly. Barmar (talk) 23:39, 28 July 2023 (UTC)

I've seen some indoors, flashing. I think it might have been in a dim room. But really it's not that hard to tell them from other common insects even without flashing. I would think you can differentiate bees, flies, lady bugs, mosquitoes, etc. 172.70.126.98 00:25, 29 July 2023 (UTC)Pat

It's not easy if you never saw any clearly. Ok, from flies and bees, sure, but from other beetles ... -- Hkmaly (talk) 01:36, 29 July 2023 (UTC)

It's not too hard if you know what to look for - the most distinguishing feature from other beetles is their translucent abdomen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly#/media/File:Firefly_composite.jpg 172.70.111.137 14:27, 1 August 2023 (UTC)

Huge kudos to whoever made that Counting Crows reference in the "incomplete" box. Trogdor147 (talk) 02:12, 29 July 2023 (UTC)

Is it cannibalism if the predator is a different species? Perhaps "pseudo-cannabilzed"Boatster (talk) 02:24, 29 July 2023 (UTC)

Have there been a lot of firefly comics recently, or am I misremembering? R128 (talk) 03:56, 29 July 2023 (UTC)

There was one earlier this month (#2802). Trogdor147 (talk) 02:42, 30 July 2023 (UTC)