Red and Rover by Brian Basset for July 20, 2020

Also called a sow bug for some odd reason. Potato bugs look totally different.

The Potato Bug I remember was the creepiest thing EVER! UGH!

It might be roly-poly, but it’s still a bug!

Red has the scientific name for the pill bug correct (I know, I found it hard to believe too!) The potato bug is known as the Jerusalem cricket, and is a completely different bug.

I much prefer potato bug.

We called them potato bugs on L.I. and in California too.

I’ve seen a potato bug exactly once in my life. I was about 9 years old. I never, until just now, knew what it was. Pill bugs we just called pill bugs or rolly-polly.

Back to Earth for Red and Rover.

Isn’t it funny how all kids experience the same things as the old folk did?

Hey, close enough Red!

Never heard potato bug but as a kid I played with many pill and rolly-polly bugs!

I remember pill bugs as a child. But with most bugs I cried and ran into the house to my grandma!

Love it!

Did they name the food after that?

Alex Stone (Stone Soup fame) put pill-bugs in “suspended animation” (jello).

We called them wood bugs when I was a kid.

I had to look up “potato bug” and found out they too can be called roly poly’s:

The thick legs of potato bug help in burrowing the soil for hunting food and hiding purpose. … The color of the adult Pill bug(Armadillidium vulgare) spans from gray to brown. When matured it reaches a length of 8.5 to 18mm. It is also called a roly-poly as it has the potential to roll into a ball when disturbed.

Roly-polys are fun!

DOODLE BUGS ~ MARSHALL, TEXAS

My kids and friends called the roly-poly ones “babies”. To this day I do, but don’t see many up in Washington.

Or wood louse; still a pill bug.

We called them doodle bugs.