12 
BULLETIN OF WISCONSIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. VOL. 2. NO. 1. 
The officers for the ensuing year were then elected as follows : 
President — E. E. Teller. 
Vice-President — Dr. S. Graenicher. 
General Secretary — W. J. Bennetts. 
Corresponding Secretary — Lee R. Whitney. 
Treasurer — Geo. A. West. 
Librarian — Adolf Biersach. 
DIRECTORS OF SECTIONS. 
Entomology — C. E. Brown. 
Botany — E. Bruncken. 
Archeology — ^W. H. Ellsworth. 
Numismatics — W. F. Sandrock. 
Geology — C. E. Monroe. 
Ornithology — 
Mineralogy — Louis Lotz. 
The following were also elected to membership : Messrs. A. 
S. Mitchell, J. A. Sheridan, Thos. G. Laurenzen. 
Mr. Adolf Biersach then read a paper entitled, ''Snakes of the 
Genera Elaps and Osceola." Elaps is a genus of poisonous snakes 
consisting of about thirty species, whose character as to whether 
they are poisonous or non-poisonous was for many years a sub- 
ject of debate among herpetologists. They are beautifully marked 
with red, black and yellow rings, and are mimicked in this par- 
ticular by the king snakes of the genus Osceola, which on the 
contrary are all perfectly harmless. 
It was shown by the speaker that the venomous genus could be 
distinguished from the non-venomous one by the fact that in Elaps 
the black rings are bordered by the yellow, while in Osceola the 
yellow rings are bordered by black. 
The paper was illustrated by charts and drawings and by alco- 
holic specimens of Elaps fulvius and of Osceola doliafa coccinea. 
Thursday, May 30, 1901. 
At this meeting Mr. A. Schroeder and Rev. J. W. Berg of St. 
Francis were elected members of the society, after which those 
present listened with much interest to a lecture by Prof. Stuart 
Weller of the University of Chicago entitled, ''Modem Problems 
in Paleontology." 
The lecturer described the methods employed, and some of the 
results achieved, by that branch of Paleontological Geology which 
dealt with faunal societies. It was shown how by its aid it ws 
possible in a measure to restore the ancient geography of the earth 
at any geological period, and to determine the migrations of any 
of the fossil faunal types. 
