# Firefly -- sign of summer **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 25, 2006, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-sign-of-summer/362032 "2006-06-25T00:55:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-sign-of-summer/362032/1 "2006-06-25T00:55:16Z")
Just saw the first firefly of the summer. Oddly enough, it was in my living room. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-sign-of-summer/362032/2 "2006-06-25T01:12:06Z")
Got screens? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-sign-of-summer/362032/3 "2006-06-25T01:21:58Z")
yes, but how did the gorram thing fit inside the house, “Fireflies” are pretty frellin’ big
 
oh, _that_ kind of firefly then
 \ Nevermind
 \ ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-sign-of-summer/362032/4 "2006-06-25T05:22:46Z")
[This](http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL21/73667/4792795/136608989.jpg) is the only Firefly we have around here. She’d walk right in and hang with us in the living room, too, given the chance. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-sign-of-summer/362032/5 "2006-06-25T05:37:50Z")
I am jealous! I have oft heard of such magical creatures, but on the west coast of Canada, we have no such beings. I can vouch for mosquitoes, however. It has been the perfect summer day here–even the bit of sunburn on my arms just feels ‘right’, but as I was sitting outside, reading a novel and enjoying a vodka-cranberry juice concoction, slapping at mosquitoes, yet revelling in the bliss of summer twilight
 Well, darn it. Fireflies would have been a lovely touch. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-sign-of-summer/362032/6 "2006-06-25T06:39:38Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > yes, but how did the gorram thing fit inside the house, “Fireflies” are pretty frellin’ big
 Hey, tell that _qÄ«ngwā cĂ o de liĂșmĂĄng_ Mal Reynolds he owes me fifty credits, okay? ---
**Author:** ![Clockwork\_And\_Candy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b782af/32.png) [@Clockwork\_And\_Candy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clockwork_And_Candy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-sign-of-summer/362032/7 "2006-06-25T06:43:45Z")
We’ve had fireflies over here for a few weeks now. They’re so beautiful-- but it kind of grosses me out to think that it’s all just a mating ritual. =P The ones that glow more green instead of yellow are purrdy. I wonder what causes that. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Malienation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Malienation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malienation)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-sign-of-summer/362032/8 "2006-06-26T03:58:49Z")
> [@Clockwork And Candy](#): > > They’re so beautiful-- but it kind of grosses me out to think that it’s all just a mating ritual. =P Excuse me? What’s gross about that? 😕 That’s the cool part, man
 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-sign-of-summer/362032/9 "2006-06-26T04:07:37Z")
Oooh, I have never seen them, you lucky dog you! ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-sign-of-summer/362032/10 "2006-06-26T15:21:24Z")
> [@Clockwork And Candy](#): > > 
but it kind of grosses me out to think that it’s all just a mating ritual. =P What’s so gross about that? Almost everything pretty in nature is for sex. The pretty colors on birds, butterflies, flowers, etc, and the singing of birds, insects
 We’ve been seeing them (fireflies, not just any mating rituals) for a few weeks around here. They’re especially pretty when I’m riding my bike back from work late in the evening. I never notice them when driving though. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-sign-of-summer/362032/11 "2006-06-26T22:52:19Z")
Several years ago, we had a house in the suburbs of Chicago. The yard a big and overgrown. I’ve never seen so many fireflys. There might be 40 or more fireflys in the yard, on a good night
 On one side was a 30ft tall mulberry tree. The fireflys would gather around and up the tree. So you would have this scattering of lights all over the yard, at about knee level, and then this fountain of them up the tree. And they came in 2 colors. A blueish, and a more yellowish. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-sign-of-summer/362032/12 "2006-06-27T00:03:58Z")
I saw a ton of them off the side of I-80 driving back to my hometown a week ago Friday and it was the first time I’d seen them in a long, long time (possibly two years or so? I don’t remember). It was really cool to see them again. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-sign-of-summer/362032/13 "2006-06-27T03:52:33Z")
The last time I saw fireflies was in Sopchoppy City Park, Fla. I was camping there, and was amazed and delighted to see them. Here in California, we have the what are called “railroad worms” that glow in the dark, but they’re just not the same. ---
**Author:** ![moonstarssun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@moonstarssun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moonstarssun)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-sign-of-summer/362032/14 "2006-06-27T19:58:02Z")
I never saw them until we moved to Wisconsin 10 years ago. Our back yard is usually full of them; it’s my favorite part of summer evenings. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-sign-of-summer/362032/15 "2006-06-27T21:39:52Z")
> [@Tastes of Chocolate](#): > > Several years ago, we had a house in the suburbs of Chicago. The yard a big and overgrown. I’ve never seen so many fireflys. There might be 40 or more fireflys in the yard, on a good night Hell, I had at least a hundred of 'em splattered on my windshield during my drive home from Chicago Sunday evening. What a godawful mess. I needed the ice scraper to remove their sticky little carcasses.