About Insect Lore

Insect Lore was founded in California's San Joaquin Valley by Carlos White, an entomologist. He had an idea to create a kit through which people of all ages could witness the metamorphosis of a real, live butterfly. It seemed like a great idea - but the key to its success would be to create a recipe for caterpillar food. This would enable the caterpillars to eat and get enough nutrition to become healthy adult butterflies. How hard could that be?

As the next three long years of trial and error proved, quite hard indeed. Mr. White finally came up with a successful diet for the Painted Lady butterfly caterpillars in 1969. It was then that The Butterfly Garden was born. The concept was simple: butterfly lovers would go into a store and purchase The Butterfly Garden which included a certificate that could be mailed to our "butterfly nursery" in order to receive live caterpillars.

The caterpillars would be shipped to the customer in a special jar that included Mr. White's unique caterpillar food. In time, the caterpillars would eat the food, change into chrysalides, and finally emerge as adult butterflies in The Butterfly Garden hatching box. After a few days of observation, the butterflies would be set free - delighting both the customer and the butterflies.

Insect Lore