I receive a lot of forgettable e-mails from companies pitching products, but one that came the other day caught my attention.

It was for a product called Firefly Magic Firefly Lights. You put the battery- or solar-powered lights in bushes, trees and other landscaping, and they create the ambiance of flickering and flashing fireflies at night.

My first impulse was to say, "Has it come to that?" We need a product that sells for $59.99 and on up to give us a phenomenon that should be natural and free?

But as I thought about it, I decided that if this invention promotes interest in and appreciation of insects and our natural world, then it isn't all just entrepreneurship. Plus, I'm told that because fireflies need to live where there is moisture in the soil, people in arid climates such as Arizona don't otherwise get to experience this nighttime magic.

In the Quad-City region, now is the time to look for real fireflies, or lightning bugs, which are two names for the same thing. This is an especially fun activity to do with kids, and you can use the time to teach them things. In doing research for this purpose, I found a lot of stuff I didn't know.

* Why and how do they light up? The light is produced by a reaction of chemicals and enzymes. It helps the males and females of the different species find and recognize each other for the purposes of mating. The light flashing is regulated according to a genetically fixed pattern, and each species has a distinctive pattern.

* Citizen-scientist monitoring: While there are some 124 species of fireflies in the United Sates and Canada - 1,900 worldwide - some people are concerned that their populations are declining. They question the effect of insecticides and artificial light that may change the insect's ability to communicate and find mates.

To help monitor populations, there is a citizen-scientist project hosted by the Museum of Science in Boston in which you can participate. Count the fireflies in your own yard and then report your data to the Web site www.mos.org/fireflywatch.

Over time, this data will help scientists get a better picture of populations.

* Limiting insecticides: If you'd like to encourage firefly populations, you have to be gentle with insects in general.

Fireflies are beetles (not flies), so avoid using anti-beetle products in your garden, even naturally derived ones such as Bt.

Fireflies spend most of their lives in the grub stage underground, so they are affected by anti-grub pesticides.

Finally, don't mow your grass too short. Mature fireflies prefer tall grass.

* What they eat: If your kids like to catch fireflies and put them in a container with grass, know that fireflies don't eat grass. They may occasionally feed on nectar, but most adult bugs appear to not eat much of anything, according to Donald Lewis, an entomologist at Iowa State University in Ames.

Best bet: Catch and release.

And P.S.: For more information about lightning bug lights, go to www.fireflymagic.com.