70 BULLETIN OF WISCONSIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. VOL. 1. NO. 2. 
The museum board had agreed to attend to the distributing, and 
to pay the postage, but required a Hst of the societies and institu- 
tions to which it should be sent. The recording secretary was 
then instructed to prepare a maiHng Hst for that purpose. 
Chas. E. Brown pointed out that the want of a blackboard was 
frequently felt at the meetings, and a motion was made by Dr. 
Dorner that the corresponding secretary communicate with the 
museum board in regard to supplying the lecture room with a 
wall blackboard at the east end. The motion was seconded and 
carried. 
Dr. S. Graenicher then read a paper of much interest, entitled, 
"Our early wild flowers and their insect visitors." TriUiuin nivale, 
Erigcnia bulbosa Sind Sali.v discolor, which blossom in this vicinity 
in the order named, were the plants chiefly considered. TrilUiiin 
nivale he had found in bloom as early as March 26th, but had 
never observed any insects visiting it, and had concluded that like 
the majority of the Trihiads, it was self-fertilized. Upon Erigcnia 
bnlbosa he had taken ten species of insects and upon Sales dis- 
color eighty-four. The paper was illustrated l)y specimens of the 
plants and insects mentioned and a considerable portion of the 
paper was devoted to a consideration of the relation of the insects 
to one another and to the plants visited. 
It was announced that at the next monthly meeting Dr. H. 
Dorner would read a paper upon the giant cuttlefish, of wdiich the 
museum possesses a papier-mache cast. 
Thursday, January 25, 1900. 
Held in the museum lecture room. President Peckham oc- 
cupied the chair and sixty persons were present. 
After the usual opening business had been transacted, Mr. 
George Shrosbree, taxidermist of the Milwaukee Public Museum, 
read an instructive and practical paper, entitled, "Modern 
Taxidermy." 
Mr. Shrosbree contrasted the present methods of the art with 
the old-time methods of stnffing specimens, and gave credit to 
the South Kensington Museum, London, and to the American 
Museum, New York, for inaugurating the change. A successful 
taxidermist, it was stated, should primarily be endowed with a 
love of nature and with a good perception of form and color. He 
should be a constant student and accurate observer of the habits 
and haunts of animals, should have a knowledge of their myology 
and osteology in as far as it afl^ects their surface and outline, and 
should have considera])le artistic skill in modelling and coloring. 
He should also be familiar with the use of the principal tools 
employed in the different artisan trades. 
