Photograph by Katherine Bish
It's no exaggeration to say that the Butterfly House is like no place else on earth. The Chesterfield attraction imports chrysalises from tropical-butterfly farms in the Philippines, Ecuador, Malaysia, Suriname, Costa Rica and Australia, and the resulting population of several thousand butterflies flitting around the conservatory does not replicate nature so much as represent a mélange of nature's brightest and most charming. Butterfly House docent and instructor Lois Cromwell takes us on a tour of this awe-inducing hallucination-made-real.
BK: How many different kinds of butterflies are here?
Lois: Ordinarily, we have 1,200 to 1,500 butterflies here each day, in 40 to 60 different species. We've brought in a lot of extra Blue Morphos for Morpho Mania, so we're at 1,500 to 2,000 total.
BK: Wow. They are just swarming all around us. How do they feel about people?
Lois: It's interesting. Some of them, especially the Paper Kite, just seem to really like people. It seems to me they like to land on calmer people. This is just from my observation.
BK: Do some of the kids try to catch them?
Lois: Yes, and we can't have that. We're really very protective of our butterflies, because they don't last long [average adult lifespan: three to four weeks]. They're very fragile.
BK: What do they eat?
Lois: When I first came here, I thought, “My gracious! Surely they can provide them with something other than rotten bananas.” Then I remembered they don't have teeth. It's got to be something that they can drink. [We stop to watch a butterfly uncurl its proboscis and drink from a tray of bright red nectar.]
Lois: I want you to see the Paper Kite. See that white one? It has a different way of flying. To me it's very graceful. [We come across a 6-year-old boy with three Paper Kites on his head.]
Lois: Does he have some sort of spray on his head?
The boy's mother: Yes, hair gel.
Lois: They must think it's nectar of some sort. Yeah, see his proboscis is trying to get something there.
BK: They're trying to drink from his head! [I laugh. The child does not.] What's the best way to get them off, Lois? [Lois puts her finger next to the butterfly, which walks onto her finger. She sets the butterfly on a nearby bush.]
Lois: Verrrrrry gentle. [The kids are rapt with attention.]
Lois to kids: You know what we say — we don't touch our butterflies, but if one of them touches you, you're gonna have extra-special good luck until, oh golly, Friday afternoon, anyway. [Laughs.]
BK: Lois, that kid will probably never forget you picking the butterflies off his head.
Lois: You think so?
BK: Do you ever get used to the heat in here?
Lois: Sometimes it can be absolutely oppressive. [It is always at least 84 degrees.] But we're providing their home. I just kind of feel like we are guests in their home.
BK: What are all these butterflies actually doing?
Lois: They're looking for food. They may be looking for a mate. They do mate.
BK: Have you ever had to explain mating to a child?
Lois: We don't really get into that. Some of the schools that come here would get a little nervous about that.
BK: If you saw two of them mating, you could just explain that they're having a friendly get-together.
Lois: Oh no. They're mating. You use the word, that's it ... Now look how gorgeous that is? [A Blue Morpho has just landed in my lap.]
BK: Does the short lifespan of the butterfly make you contemplate the short lifespan of us all?
Lois: No. Not really. I think about their lives and the joy they bring.
BK: I think it's possible to also think of it as emblematic of the human lifespan, which could also be considered pretty short.
Lois: I can't really compare them. I just think we're all ideas of God, and these little creatures are a lesser idea, but not necessarily less important.
Butterflyschool Academy begins June 3 and runs through July 16. Call 636-530-0076 x10 or visit butterflyhouse.org.
