This spiral 'nuptial gift', usually stored in the belly of a male firefly, contains protein and sperm. He passes it to his lady, and the extra nourishment helps her produce viable eggs.

I know, I’m probably the 1,000th blogger to give props to Carl Zimmer’s new piece about firefly courtship, cleverly titled ‘Blink Twice if You Like Me‘. But I don’t care. It’s an amazing read, and a perfect send-off to this weekend of fireworks. Here’s a taste:

For Dr. Lewis, this meadow is the stage for an invertebrate melodrama, full of passion and yearning, of courtship duets and competitions for affection, of cruel deception and gruesome death. For the past 16 years, Dr. Lewis has been coming to this field to decipher the evolutionary forces at play in this production, as fireflies have struggled to survive and spread their genes to the next generation.