I don't know about anyone else, but this is my favorite episode.

When spinney appears at the loggers camp, he says he is looking for a battery for their otherwise working jeep to get out. He also claims he hasn't eaten for some days. Why did the eco-guys not take enough food on their "camping trip"?? If they stayed longer than planned, why not try for that battery earlier?

Secondly, why doesn't spinney or mulder convince larry to take the whole group over to spinneys friends to arrest them? Surely being arrested is preferable to being eaten by bugs? And larry says that the ecoterrorists have broken the law. I mean, mulder doesn't always arrest criminals if the case is "interesting" enough (or if he kills them instead), but why doesn't larry think of the idea?

Why does spinney take gasoline with him to power the jeep, leaving the others with the risk of the lights going out, when he always claims to need a battery? Was he lying, or can't he make up his mind?

Mulder, Scully and Larry inside the car can be safed by the evac unit, but spinney, who was attacked only moments before, is dead. Why?

So these bugs have lived for several hundred years inside a tree. When larry looks at them inside the magnifing glass, he says they eat dead wood. But suddenly these bugs decide to switch their diet and eat humans. How? Why?
Apart from the poetic justice, why are they so actively searching for humans? Are there no other animals to eat in these woods?

And how do these bugs kill the humans? They swarm them, the victim falls to the ground, and is found enwrapped. The doc at the clinic tells mulder that the luziferon, the glowing chemical, caused problems in the breathing way, but how did the bugs intend to kill their prey: by stinging with some poison (like ants or bees), by spraying poison in the air, where its breathed, by jumping into their throats so they breathe in the toxic luziferon (?),...how?
And if the cocoon is the equivalent of a doggie bag, as phil speculates, the body should be sucked dry before, right? like the dead logger scully and the others find. But when humphrey is attacked, he is cocooned, but not sucked dry. When sculley, mulder and larry are attacked, they aren't sucked dry. Was it too much of a meal for the bugs, and they wanted to return later for sucking dry? If yes, what made them so aggressive to kill so many people when there are already some "doggiebags" around? Is the swarm that big, or are they controlled by poetic justice instead of instinct?

Why does Scully panick when she sees the bugs on her hand in the bunkhouse? Shouldn't she have felt them crawling around on her much earlier than seeing them?

And why would the bugs be passive enough to not attack, yet active enough to crawl around, when the lights are on? Doesn't make much sense to me, biologically.

Aside from Constanze's good observations, I found a few things that bothered me:

As Mulder attempts to send a radio transmission, Larry kills the generator to save gas for the nighttime. Good thinking. My nit is, why weren't they doing this already? Several shots showed the camp during the day, and the generator was heard running in the background. Why not shut it down every sunrise and turn it on just before dark?

Spinney is killed outside of the jeep. Yes, it's dark out, but he's IN THE HEADLIGHTS of the jeep. The headlights put out more energy than that bare bulb back in the cabin, and that bulb was enough to keep the bugs away; why don't the powerful headlights protect Spinney?

At the end, when the one doctor tells Mulder that the government doesn't consider failure (of its eradication program) an option, there's this intense moment where the camera points at Mulder's stunned expression and the music evokes chills. My point is, the producers seem to elevate this moment to another instance of the secret forces doing their dirty work. OK, I understand it when they're showing, say, the Smoking Man hiding evidence in the basement of the Pentagon or an agent gunning down Deep Throat, but this instance is...well, it's actually pretty justifiable. I AGREE that the human race being wiped out by an insect swarm is a bad idea. I WANT the government to eradicate the insects, no matter what the cost. I HOPE that they don't consider failure an option. The point is, this instance of government activity isn't exactly a bad thing, so TPTB's treatment of it as such is a little nonsensical.

I have all of Phil's books except X-Philes, so my apologies if he mentions the couples I'm about to there.

So these bugs are affected by light, so why not light some candles or a few fires around the cabin? Jesse mentioned the headlights, which bothered me too, but there's also the dash lights, other interior lights, flashlights, chem-lights... yes, these bugs are quite inconsistant.

Most of the rest I wanted to mention constanze did almost seven years ago! I'm a bit behind the times with this show but am catching up.

Just remembered one more; when Humphreys was trying to leave he had the truck hood up while he was trying hot wire it. He looked up and saw the swarm, got into the cab, started the engine, started to pull away and the hood was already down. Then of course he got trapped by a rock and didn't think to try the other door, not that it would've saved him but still...

Don't these cars have the ceiling interior lights? Or map lights? Those things are pretty bright.

Jdequin: Spinney is killed outside of the jeep. Yes, it's dark out, but he's IN THE HEADLIGHTS of the jeep. The headlights put out more energy than that bare bulb back in the cabin, and that bulb was enough to keep the bugs away; why don't the powerful headlights protect Spinney?
I finally got around to picking up the guide and this is almost exactly what Phil mentions; nice work . Good point about the difference between the ending of this ep versus others with equally suspenseful music.

Those 'eco-terrorists' had a plot-convenient way of planting their trail traps and sabotage. I wouldn't doubt it if others used those trails as well and needed access to the loggers' radio.