"You're ‘luring' me?" Vinnie scoffed. "Your head is three times too big! Your mouth is a mass of fangs! And your ass is enormous. You know what? You're not alluring. You're a giant, ugly cannibal."

"That's not fair. I'm not a cannibal. You're my prey species."

"But we're both beetles of the family Lampyridae. Plus, you used my own Photinus style of flashing!"

"Not exactly," she said. "I improved your style. Given my profession, I'm better at flashing than any Photinus—male or female."

"Okay," said Vinnie, "I admit it, your display was fantastic. I never saw the like. It's a pity that, face to face, you're so hideous."

"Look, fella, I happen to be extremely attractive to Photuris men. Your limited standards of female beauty, those I don't care about. I don't need to please you. All I have to do is rip your head off then eat you."

Vinnie considered this. He could recognize that his cannibal remark had been a little ungallant. Several million years ago, Photuris and Photinus had probably been the same species of beetle, but beetles had a genius for radiating into every conceivable evolutionary niche. That was why there were more beetles in the world than any other kind of creature.

It shouldn't have entirely surprised him to learn there was a class of firefly that ate fireflies.

"Okay, I guess I can accept that, but tell me something. Where are these Photuris men that you are supposed to attract?"

"What do you mean?"

"I wasn't hatched yesterday. I know every guy around here, by his style and his signal. If there were any Photuris men around, I'd know that. So where are they?"

"Top predators are rare," she admitted.

"You've never met a male at all? Getting pretty late in the season."

"I've met a lot of men of your species. Your type is very common. I ate about as many of you as I have legs."

"What were their names?" Vinnie paused. "Never mind that. You just kind of jumped on them out of the darkness, eh? Never bothered to, uh, get to know them as people."