1909] Proceedings. 83 



Dr. S. Graenicher followed with an account of Parasitic Bees and 

 other bee parasites. He gave a general account of parasitism with the 

 description of some specific cases. 



After a rather lengthy discussion on the part of several members 

 concerning the proper application of the word "parasitism" the meet- 

 ing adjourned. 



Milwaukee, May 27, 1909. 



Regular monthly meeting of the society. 



President Teller in the chair. 



About 4 people present. 



The minutes of the last general and annual meeting were read 

 and approved. 



President Teller announced a business meeting to take place after 

 the lecture of the evening, which was by Mr. Alfred C. Burrill, lecturer 

 at the Milwaukee Public Museum. Mr. BurrilPs theme was "Our 

 Greatest National Peril : The Waste of Soil." 



Mr. Burrill said that aside from the depletion of the soil from its 

 necessary chemical elements by too reckless farming, there is an- 

 other, much greater waste, by erosion, due to deforestration primarily, 

 and secondarily to destruction of the ground cover by animals. In 

 the first instance the lecturer dwelt upon the destruction of forests 

 by human agents. The careless methods of the lumbermen in the 

 felling and transportation of the trees were shown; how the ground 

 cover is torn by hauling the trunks, or how young trees are destroyed 

 by the falling giants. Rains and floods flowing into these drains soon 

 form natural beds that in time widen to great gullies through the 

 unceasing erosion. Attention was called to the Alleghanian and 

 Rocky Mountain forests as illustrating this particular feature. The 

 Bad Lands of S. Dak., the canons of the Colorado and the Carson Sink 

 at the mouth of that erratic river are other instances. As other than 

 human agents Mr. Burrill mentioned Are and wind. An annual loss of 

 hundreds of millions of dollars through fires in North America was 

 cited. Destruction by wind, such as the uprooting of trees and thus 

 preparing the way for the wearing floods, was passed over as a minor 

 though by no means unimportant feature. 



The second part of the lecture was devoted to animal erosion. The 

 overcrowding of ranges with sheep and cattle and the consequent 

 trampling and close feeding utterly destroy the ground cover; in 



