In my first entomology class years ago at Gustavus Adolphus College, Dr. Charles Hamrum told us that fewer than 10% of the myriad insect species are harmful directly or indirectly to us humans. All the others benefit us in one way or another.

It turns out that ladybugs are heroes. They are quite numerous now at summer's end.

Throughout the world, the ladybird beetles — often called ladybugs, ladyflies and ladycows — are popular insects. A ladybird beetle hibernating in the house over winter in pioneer America was considered a harbinger of good luck. In England, the sight of numerous ladybugs in spring is supposed to indicate heavy crops, and in France, they are believed to bring fine weather.

The insect's common names come from the Middle Ages, when they were dedicated to the Virgin Mary and called "Our Lady's Beetle." This religious association also is suggested by the fact that Swedish peasants referred to the beetles as the "Virgin Mary's Golden Hens," and farmers in France called them the "Cows of the Lord." These insects had to be very special to receive such honors.

As consumers of harmful insects, ladybird beetles do help bring good crops and help bring good fortune to farmers. The larvae and adult beetles eat almost any soft-bodied insect. They have great appetites for aphids, potato beetle eggs, scale insects and many other pests.

The ladybug's reputation has always been good, but it has even become better as biological control of insect pests, at times more effective than chemical controls. In California, collectors search the mountains each fall and gather ladybugs that have been resting in protected higher elevations during the hot summer months. They preserve these ladybugs over the winter and market them to farmers and orchardists early in the spring. About 30,000 ladybugs can protect 10 acres.

Jim Gilbert taught and worked as a naturalist for 50 years.