All these names, silent, with still thousands and thousands more small silences following as fireflies hatch, wiggle through their larval stage, pupate, crack out of their shell, and then—winged—decide not to flash their chartreuse light. Scientists still don’t know how, when, or why fireflies decide to stay visually silent. And even though a field of tall grass might be teeming with fireflies, the space and time between flashes have grown longer over the years.
