The E.L.G. was started back in 1978, the idea of a handful of English Butterfly & Insect breeders.  Since then membership has risen, reaching around 300 in 1990 and today (Oct, 2000), standing at over 600 members worldwide. The ELG is a contact group for Butterfly and Insect breeders and we publish a news-letter every 2 weeks. The Newsletter is currently sent out by first-class mail to U.K. members and Airmail to all overseas members.  E-Mail delivery is also available. (See "How to Join").

Since November 1990 the ELG's publishing base has been in Dinnington, (a little wind-swept, derelict mining village on the outskirts of Sheffield, England). The Editor for the ELG, is Paul W. Batty, a worn-out Electrician who never looks good on a photo (and doesn't get a sun-tan - even after weeks in West Africa!) The Secretary is John Green, a semi-retired truffle-hunter from Aldershot in Hampshire, England.

No, seriously, both myself  & John Green have Electrical backgrounds, but that's just a coincidence.  We also have a common interest in Tropical butterflies and other Insects, as do many of our other members.  Our membership comes from all walks of life - professionals & amateurs, photographers, BBC Natural History Unit staff, teachers, doctors, school children, greengrocers, dentists, fire-fighters, tax-inspectors, YOU NAME IT! - in fact the only qualification that you need to join the ELG, is that you have a keen interest in breeding, studying or photographing Insects.

The Entomological Livestock Group is the largest FREE ADVERTISING entomological livestock exchange group in Europe - perhaps one of the largest in the world!  Members use the newsletters to dispose of (and ask for) surplus livestock right across the range - British, European, American & Tropical Butterfly & Moth livestock, (Many Saturniids & Sphingiids), Stick Insects, Mantids, Beetles, Spiders & other Arachnids and you can also find advertised, the associated plants and seeds of those vital food-plants that you need to breed your favorite insects.

The newsletters also publish dates of entomological meetings in Europe (and anywhere else if you let me know what's happening).  All other connected entomological goods can be traded in our newsletters, cages, breeding materials, books, equipment, in fact anything that's legal!  Now the good news - members pay NOTHING for placing their advertisements - a single yearly subscription is paid, just prior to April each year (see "How to Join the E.L.G." page). And that's it! Nothing more to pay - you just sit back and wait for your newsletters coming through the letter-box or into your e-mail - submit any adverts or items by one of many channels (Letter, Phone, Fax, E-mail or Carrier Pigeon).

Although our membership is around 600, it doesn't end there - our readership is in excess of 1,000 (maybe even more - who knows?).  Sample lists can now be downloaded from our public access DOWNLOADS PAGE.
These are always at least a month or more out of date (only members get access to the current lists at the moment they are published).  Anything good on offer can be sold out within a few hours, or by the next day - but certainly, have a look at our sample publications - contact our members if you wish - but if you really want to be part of the action - why not JOIN  US - it's actually very good value for money  - for what you get - work the cost out for yourself !  E-Mail me and ask for samples!

Anyway, let me tell you about this web-site. (It's a mess - it's too big and there is so much stuff on here, that even I can't find some of it - so hunt around!) I hope it's fairly self-explanatary and user-friendly - you can move about using either the link-bars at the top left of each page, or the link menu at the very bottom of each page  You can click on most of the pictures to get a bigger image - many of the pictures are full-screen size.  There's a lot of reading to do, so why not let each page load up in your browser and then do all the reading offline.  The downloads are very fast - just a few seconds for each (except for the utilities). Bookmark this page as your start point - if you go off following the links on the Members Sites & Links page, you may never find your way back again!  There's an E-mail bar on each main site page so you can contact me, and all the other contact details are on the JOIN page.

If you already breed butterflies & moths, but find that getting supplies of new species of livestock is difficult, the E.L.G. can usually solve the problem.  Those "elusive" species are usually on offer in our lists at some point in the season. The Death's-head Hawk (A.atropos) [left] used to be hard to get as livestock, but is now one of the most commonly bred Hawkmoth species.  More About Us