The Illuminati arrive
I've been waiting for this arrival for the past few days—the vanguard of nature's, um, Illuminati. And this year, when—and, alas, if—these bioluminescent beetles start flashing, I have a new identification helper in a terrific book titled Fireflies, Glow-worms, and Lightning Bugs by expert naturalist Lynn Frierson Faust, whom I had the great good fortune of interviewing over the winter. The field guide is just the book I've longed for and will help me finally be able to put names to the flashers. So far, the beetles have been exceedingly scarce, but the visit on the kitchen porch and door of the first member of the beetle family Lampyridae—the name given for obvious reasons—means that the learning curve, to say nothing of the fun curve, is about to start.