Nature's beautiful light in the Sky!

Oh, lightning bug you fly so high
I sit and watch as you go by
Your warm, bright glow leaves much desire
And sets the night time sky afire

~ Lady Caer Morganna       

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Not too many people know that the "firefly," or, as we commonly know them as here in Pennsylvania, "lightning bug," is our designated Official State Insect . Yup, in 1974, a group of Highland Park Elementary School students from Upper Darby, PA had petitioned state legislators to have the lightning bug/firefly officially declared our State insect and the bill was subsequently signed by Governor Milton J. Shapp on April 10, 1974. 

The funny thing is, I was in Girl Scouts at the time and I vividly remember our troop leader explaining all of this to us on one of our field trips, and, it is one of those things which I have never forgotten.

 

Their scientific name is photuris pennsylvanica (ironic, right?) and they are not a fly at all, but actually a beetle. They emit both yellow and green colored light flashes. All the same, I know of no one who does not hold a wonderful fascination for these beautiful insects. Here in PA, we are inundated with them and you can  literally see them cover the fields in the distance as they fly above them.  Although, there is nothing more romantic to me on a Midsummer's night than relaxing on the porch watching them light up the sky. Truly a wonder of Nature! 

Here come real stars to fill the upper skies

And here on earth come emulating flies

That though they never equal stars in size

And they were never really stars at heart

Achieve at times a very star-like start

Only, of course, they can't sustain the part

~ Fireflies in the Garden by Robert Frost