BULLETIN 
OF THE 
WISCONSIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY 
Vol. 13 DECEMBER, 1915 No. 4 
PROCEEDINGS 
December 10, 1914. 
Meeting called to order by President Barth. 
Minutes of previous meeting read and approved. Mr. Clarence J. Allen 
presented the resolution: Resolved that the title of the Game Protection 
Committee be changed to Committee on Wild Life Protection and that the 
number of members be increased from three (3) to five (5). Resolution 
adopted. President Barth appointed Messrs. Ford, C. Ellis, Adolph Bier* 
sach, Howland Russel as additional members of the Committee on Wild 
Life Protection. 
Mr. Clarence J. Allen nominated Mr. and Mrs. Mathews C. Moor, Mr. 
Carl B. Rix and Mr. Samuel J. Pierce for membership. 
The nominations were accepted and referred to the Board of Directors 
for election. 
Mr. H. L. Ward gave a very interesting discussion on pseudo vs. true con- 
servation. He developed the important principle that some organic forms 
must, in the very nature of things, become extinct. 
He called attention to the lesson from palaeontology. He gave as illus- 
trations the Buffalo and the Passenger Pigeon. Their destruction has been 
from natural causes rather than by the cruelty of man. Their environ- 
mental conditions have changed, they were unable to adapt themselves to 
the changed environment, hence their extinction. To attempt to preserve 
such forms is pseudo-conservation. 
Mr. Biersach gave an account of his observation of the destruction of 
bird life in Waukesha and Milwaukee counties. On twenty-seven trips 
made this and last year a total of 224 birds were found dead or maimed 
from glunshot wounds or in the possession of the offenders. Mr. Clarence 
J. Allen gave a valuable summary of the work being done for bird pre- 
serves and refuges. 
In the discussion that followed Mr. H. Russel made an earnest plea for 
the protection of our wild flowers. 
Dr. Washburn gave a helpful talk on the use of the camera in nature 
study. He recommends a camera with long bellows. 
President Barth being called away, Vice-President H. L. Ward, was 
called to the chair. 
Dr. Brinckley presented and described a specimen of Tuckahoe, a spe- 
cies of underground fungi; the great mass of the plant being due to the 
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