This or that. fireflies or lightning bugs? mine was lightening bugs or lightning bugs. What did you call them? Did you

[debm55]

catch one in our hand and watch the magic of it glowing as a child.

[2MuchNoise]

1. Lightning bugs.

I didn't hear them called fireflies until I visited the west coast.

[debm55]

3. Thank you very much 2MuchNoise Enjoy them

[lark]

2. In NE FL, we called them lightening bugs too!

They were super common when I left the state after high school, but when I returned 20 years later, they were gone! I've lived here for 35 years this time and haven;t seen even one! So sad! I really miss them, they were a sight to see in the twilight!

[debm55]

5. Last night, I took, Dolly dog out in the back yard. It was the first time I have seen them this summer.

[debm55]

13. Thank you, lark.

[efhmc]

34. I live in a different part of Texas than I did growing up but never see them now.

I wonder if spraying for mosquitoes got rid of them. We were allowed to stay up a bit after our bed time in the summer to catch them. I could not stand keeping them for very long and would let them go pretty quickly.

[debm55]

38. That;s possible efhmc.I always punched holes into the tops of the jars my son used. They were baby food jars. and

released them and left a penny for each one in the jar.

[efhmc]

40. Just wondering now did those lightenin bugs spend their pennies?

[debm55]

46. The lightnin bugs left them for my son who was very young. Thank you efhmc.

[efhmc]

47. Lovely.

[Meadowoak]

4. Lightning bugs

[debm55]

8. Thank you very much Meadowoak. Enjoy them.

[debm55]

43. HAHAHAHAH. My son was little and thought the lightninbugs left him the pennies.

[AllaN01Bear]

6. either or.

when i was kid on a train going to mexico city in 1969. we were on the inland side of the gulf of ca. the porter took us to the vestuble and point out the door window and said in s mexican spanish , lighting bugs sure enough there they were . flittingg back and forth and blinking. they were saying , im too sexy for my shirt and reacting to lightning itself as we were going through the side edges of a hurricane . havent seen them since .

[debm55]

9. Thank you very much AllaN01Bear.

[MiHale]

7. Michigan...lightening bugs.

[debm55]

14. Thank you MiHale. Enjoy them. I always knew when summer started when we would see the Lightening bugs in the yard at

night.

[MiHale]

20. Fact I just learned today about the little guys...

In the larval stage of their lives…the bugs are sometimes referred to as glow-worms.

[debm55]

21. Thank you very much, MiHale

[2naSalit]

10. Lightning bugs.

Northern New England.

[debm55]

16. Thank you very much 2naSalit.

[RoadRunner]

11. Lightnin' bugs (Texas)

[debm55]

17. Actually that is how we pronounced it. Thank you RoadRunner.

[CTyankee]

23. Yes. I'm a 3rd generation Texan and that it what I remember calling them when I was growing up in Dallas.

[debm55]

25. Thank you very much CTyankee,

[marble falls]

12. Either, my family is in the north and south. Right now I call them near extinct. In 25+ years here in Texas ...

... I've only seen them one year and and it was only three or four bugs.

When I was in Nebraska, we were on one of the reservations, on white owned land (it's since being bought back by the tribe), never saw very many lightening bugs around town, which was surrounded by land cultivated by white farmers. In the summer we'd go on the reservation corn fields and it was amazing, never saw so many in my entire life, and in Cleveland as a kid I saw a lot of them, every night in the summer.

It is a crying shame, like Joni Mitchel sang, "don't it always seem to go, you don't know what you got till it's gone".

[debm55]

18. Thank you very much, marble falls. You are right. Summer has arrived when you see them light up the yard.

They are here and magic of them in the night is a wonder. I hope they don't disappear. We live in SW PA.

[whathehell]

15. Lightening bugs...

Philadelphia, PA.

[debm55]

19. Thank you very much whatthehell. Enjoy them.

[MuseRider]

22. Lightning bugs

I heard about fireflies in kids books. They looked like lightning bugs. In my kids head I thought they were different like we were different than our Texas relatives. LOL

[debm55]

26. Thank you very much, MuseRider, That is iinteresting.

[doc03]

24. We called them lightning bugs in Ohio. It seems like there are very few

of them today compared with when I was growing up in the 50s and 60s. I blame it on the bug zappers
people have outside.

[debm55]

27. Thank you docO3 , I agree with you,

[Bmoboy]

28. Mostly lightning bugs

But occasionally fireflies.

We caught them in empty mayonnaise jars with holes punched in the top and a piece of lettuce inside.

The plan was to sell them to Hopkins for their research into their blinking lights.

Too lazy, we just let them fly away at the end of the evening.

Eventually, the Hopkins research led to the development of glow sticks and the glowing necklaces found at state fairs and raves.

[debm55]

29. Very interesting post Bmoboy. Thank you very much.

[SARose]

30. Saw three lightin' bugs in our crepe myrtles last week

Hubs and I sat on the porch in awe! Haven’t seen them since we were kids!

[debm55]

31. They are magical , aren't they . Thank you SARose

[Jilly_in_VA]

32. Fireflies

They were thick here in northwest VA last night. When I was a kid we'd collect them in jars and put them by our beds. My mom called those "firefly nightlights". Somehow they were always gone when we got up in the morning. I learned later that Mom collected the jars, took them outside, and opened them up after we went to sleep, letting the fireflies go home. I continued the same tradition with my kids. Love to see them rise up out of the grass on a summer night.

[debm55]

36. Thank you Jilly_in_VA. We did the same with our son. The lightning bugs each left a penny in the jar.

[surrealAmerican]

33. As a kid, I called them fireflies ...

... but that was in New York. Here in Illinois they're usually called lightning bugs.

[debm55]

35. Thank you very much surrealAmerican and enjoy their magic.

[lucca18]

37. Lightning bugs!

Warm summer nights with lightning bugs all aglow. Wonderful!

[debm55]

39. It is like magic. I love to see them. thank you for your post, lucca18

[LogDog75]

41. Fireflies

Use to catch them after the sun set. I remember doing this in Tennessee and Connecticut in the early 60s. It was actually a good form of exercise for kids having us run after them.

[debm55]

45. Yes it was. Even when it is 75 the kids around here still stay in their house. We call them Marshmallows.

[ProfessorGAC]

42. Lightening Bugs

Even when I was a kid & a book used "fireflies" my brain still heard "lightening bug".

[debm55]

44. Thank you very much ProfessorGAC.

[soldierant]

48. I never saw one as a child.

They don't live everywhere in the United States, and they sisn't live where I grew up, or anywhere I went during summer vacations. They also don't live where I live now, nor anywhere I was stations while in the Marine Corps. I have never seen one in person, and I'll be 80 in about a month.