Abstract
I have previously described the use of electron and light microscopy to illustrate the highly engineered fine structures employed to manufacture light in the firefly Photinus pyralis (Armitage, 2008, 2009). In those descriptions I noted that the lantern cells of Photinus have two basic layers: a photocyte layer that produces the light and another, specialized layer, lying just dorsally to the photocyte layer (Armitage, 2008). This specialized layer seems to function as a reflecting (or reflector) layer, reflecting light produced at the back of the lantern to the environment, much as a flashlight reflector reflects light (Armitage, 2008).