in praise of Lampyridae

With the warmer weather upon us, I cannot wait until the fireflies return! Like most children, I delighted in chasing after their intermittent beacons of light in my younger years and despite the desire to keep them close, never captured them for keeps. My appreciation of insects and spiders has always been high- they were captured with dixie cups and released back into "nature" when I found them in the house and not squished. But it wasn't until I was 22 years old and wandering around the Garden for the Blind one night around 3am with a certain fella that my fascination with fireflies hit a fevered pitch. We discovered a glowworm (firefly larvae) nesting area. The little glowing nuggets were scattered all over the ground like fairy dust or stars that had fallen to earth. I scooped up a handful of dirt & glowworms and I felt like a prospector at Sutter's Mill. Who needs gold when you can have the glory of nature in your hand?