LIGHTNING BUGS LIGHT UP SUMMER NIGHTS

By Marshall McClung
Contributing Writer to the Graham Star
Copyright August 9, 2001

"Lightning bugs", better known to some as the firefly, have been blinking their little "tail lights" for quiet some time now, and will continue to do so until the end of summer. This small, soft-shelled beetle is known to entomologists as Lampyridae, the Greek word for torch, and most likely where we got the name lamp for early man-made lights.

Lightning bugs or fireflies have been around for centuries and have been studied intensely by scientists. For all their investigation, it still remains somewhat of a puzzle, which delights those of us who think that nature should be able to keep a few little secrets of its own.

This much scientists have learned, that the light is produced by the oxidation of a substance called luciferin in the insect's body. The mystery that remains is why the firefly produces the light in the first place. Several theories have emerged, none proven, including that it is used for sexual attraction, a mating lure. Another thought is that it is a "caution light" to ward off nocturnal birds. But other night insects do not have this light, and they survive. Added to the mystery is the fact that the immature larvae of the firefly and even the unhatched eggs are often also luminous.

Children aren't bothered by all this logic, often catching fireflies and placing them in glass containers., the closest we will come to "carrying moonbeams home in a jar", as the song implies.

The firefly isn't bothered by what the scientists think either. It goes right on blinking in the summer nights as it has done for time out of mind, perhaps to teach man that God is in charge of nature, and to show us that we do not yet know all there is to know about God and his creation.