Here's one final thing about lightning bugs.

If you have young children, consider reading to them a poem called "Hiawatha's Childhood" by 19th-century poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that contains a passage about fireflies.

I know this probably sounds very old, but with its lilting verse and wonderful imagery, the poem is as fresh as tomorrow.

It tells the story of the little American Indian named Hiawatha and his caretaker, Nokomis, who teaches him everything there is to know about the world, including the firefly, called wah-wah-taysee. The lines are as magical as the insect itself.