Like those lightning bugs, our faith is easier for others to see when the places around us are dark. These bugs were fun! The girls weren’t afraid anymore. Abby Kate and Lily began to light up too as they learned to catch and cup the lighting bugs in their hands. The deeper into the trail we walked, the easier the flashes were to find. The bugs were hard to see at first and the girls were frustrated as they squinted to spot them. “It will be OK.”Īn expert volunteer guided us through trails, educating us at the start about habits and natures of fireflies. “We are here for bugs, girls,” I told them as I laughed. As we waited in an amphitheater to begin the hike, Abby Kate and Lily cowered at the creepy crawlies they noticed on the ground. They have been known to abandon entire rooms in our house after seeing an insect on the wall or floor. Their feelings are closer to fear and disgust. So when our local botanical garden emailed a list of summer activities, and it included a firefly hike, I wanted my family to go.īugs, even the glow-in-the-dark kind, do not automatically spark wonder and curiosity in my daughters. We don’t see lightning bugs in our yard, presumably because there aren’t a lot of trees where we live. It had been years since I’d tried to spy fireflies, until last summer. The epitome of simple, southern, summer fun. Some we released, others we sealed in Mason jars, poking holes in the lids then setting them on the chest of drawers in our bedrooms to shine as nature-made nightlights.Ĭatching lightning bugs was a summer tradition, a seasonal rhythm of outdoor play as natural as riding bicycles with the neighborhood kids or satisfying our thirst with water from the hosepipe.
Catching lightning bugs skin#
The summer air stuck to our skin as we chased the fireflies, cupping them in our hands to see their glow up close. Reminder: Put an ice pack around the bugs when delivering them.Lightning bugs dotted the night sky during my childhood summers, tiny flickers above our front yard.Gallatin: The Gallatin Area Chamber of Commerce, 118 W. They can be delivered to one of three locations in Gallatin, Lebanon and Goodlettsville on Tuesday, July 15. Once caught, the bugs should be frozen immediately in order to preserve the enzyme they contain. “Sometimes if it’s real hot and dry you won’t see them the further into July you get, but if the weather conditions are right they’re out into August.” “The season for lightning bugs typically begins in late May or early June and peaks around July 4,” he said. It’s also recommended that catchers use a net when gathering the insects, which come out at twilight. The correct type has a red head, black back and yellow tail, Sullivan said. “One of them doesn’t work when they try to extract an enzyme from the tail, but fortunately the one that is easiest to catch is the right one.” “There are several species in Tennessee but only one or two are really prominent,” Sullivan said. While other organisms like deep sea fish also have lights similar to fireflies, they are not as common or easy to catch, Sullivan said. “If they combine a gene that has to do with the enzyme with the one they want, then they can do the experiment and see how successful it was by how much light is produced.” “For research purposes, they use the gene of the lightning bug as a genetic marker tag and they’ll take it and couple it with a gene they are working on,” Sullivan said. As part of the effort, the group will pay 50 cents per gram or about $2 for every 100 lightning bugs collected.ĭwight Sullivan, who is an agent with the Firefly Project, said the ingredients involved in the bio-chemical reaction - which produces light in the bug’s tail - are what is most important about the insect. The Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Firefly Project is asking for local residents to collect fireflies to be used for medical and industrial research. Seeing lightning bugs glowing at dusk isn’t uncommon this time of year, but did you know that catching them could make you some money?
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