THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 13, 1996 TAG: 9605130040
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
You may introduce a child who has never seen a butterfly to a rainbow cloud of 400 fluttering at the Virginia Zoo on Norfolk's Granby Street, May 17-27.
In an exhibition from Naples, Fla., a 3,000-square foot aviary will offer 1,000 blooming plants and 15 species of free-flying butterflies - as if a garden has taken wing.
Bill Hill, creator of the show and the Florida butterfly farm, said it has a remarkable calming effect.
As visitors enter, the noise level drops, the crowd becomes tranquil.
``Sort of like an anesthetic?'' asked a reporter. Hill agreed.
Along with beautiful markings, the butterflies have exotic names.
There is the orange barred sulfur, a vivid yellowish-orange butterfly with deeper-hued orange markings on its wings.
A black and yellow striped beauty, the giant swallow tail butterfly is the largest, with a wingspread upwards of 5 1/2 inches.
``Large as the palm of a hand; darned near as wide as a baseball glove?'' the reporter surmised.
Hill agreed.
The zebra long-wing butterfly doesn't appear to be flying, at times, Hill said. With narrow, elongated wings, it's a kind of floater and seems to drift along.
``Like a turkey buzzard, it'll flap its wings a time or two, then glide?'' the reporter asked.
Hill didn't object to one of his butterflies being so likened.
Was there any observation to which the mild-mannered Hill would take exception?
``If you use the wrong analogy, I'll let you know,'' Hill replied.
So, the zebra long wing is a butterfloat, no less.
Butterflies have fascinated Hill since he was a child. A visit to an aviary in Fort Lauderdale rekindled his interest. In 1986 he sold his restaurant business and began developing the farm in Naples where butterflies breed year round.
The farm's mobile unit stays on the road through the summer. Hill's wife supplies him overnight with butterfly pupae that emerge along the route and replace the short-lived adults who die within 10 to 14 days.
Alongside the aviary at the Virginia Zoo will be auxiliary tents with educational matter and a 15-minute video answering the 100 most frequently asked questions.
Admission to the show is $3 for adults, $2 for children, in addition to the Zoo's admission fee ($2 for adults, $1 for children.)
``The best place to work is at the back door of the aviary,'' Hill said. ``Everybody smiles coming out. The experience is even soothing for 4-year-olds.
``I don't know anybody who doesn't like a butterfly. Why, Ebenezer Scrooge would stop to look at a butterfly!''
No wonder Hill is so benign. ILLUSTRATION: DAVID LIEBMAN
by CNB