I cannot imagine anyone who would not be awestruck by these spectacular visitors to our rural lawns, fields, and woodlands. To me they represent one of the greatest wonders of the na tural world. Our North American fireflies belong to the family Lampyridae, a well chosen Latin name. Although they are called fireflies and lightning bugs, they are neither flies nor bugs but instead are beetles. There are well over 100 species in the United States and Canada, most living east of the Rocky Mountains.
Some entomologists can identify firefly species by the pattern of their light flashing.
They differ in such things as timing and length of flash, flight pattern and height ove r the ground while flashing. I suspect that those Caleb and I chased were mostly the same species. Almost all flew two to four feet over the ground and winked on briefly every three or four seconds. As we ran about I looked without success for fem ales flashing in the grass. The flying fireflies are males and their flashes are meant to elicit a response from one of these shy ground dwelling maidens.