Member R£sum&s 
Les Ferge recently finished up his studies at the UW-Madison, and has returned to 
Wausau. His interest is in collection and rearing of Wisconsin Lepidoptera, 
especially those of the northern portions and from the acid bog habitat. 
Dues 
Response to the newly instituted dues notice system has been very good. A few 
people have not yet returned the self-addressed return envelope with remittance. 
If you are among them, please take time out now and do so. 
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN ENTOMOLOGY - IV 
William Morton Wheeler was probably the most important and famed entomologist 
ever produced by the State of Wisconsin. Born in Milwaukee in 1865, he was edu- 
cated at Dr. Peter Engelmann's famed German Academy, after which he took a position 
as instructor of German and Physiology at Milwaukee East Side High School. George 
Peckham was principal at that time and the two became good friends, even to the 
point of cooperating on field work for the Peckhams' studies on wasp psychology. 
Wheeler also was responsible for many illustrations in the Peckhams 1 spider publi- 
cations and collaborated on the writing of one of them. Wheeler also did research 
during these years for the classic paper on the embryology of the German cockroach 
produced in conjunction with William Patton and Charles 0. Whitman. 
In 1887, at age 22, he moved from high school instructor to the directorship 
of the Milwaukee Public Museum. Wheeler took on Carl Akeley as taxidermist, and the 
two of them collaborated in experimentation with new ideas resulting in the pro- 
duction of the world's first nuseum diorama (still on display today). Although 
responsible for all fields of natural history (at which he was quite capable), 
Wheeler devoted a great effort to entomology , at one time adding 10,000 specimens 
in a single month to the Museum's collection! In his 1888 annual report he sug- 
gested a useful model system for arranging museum insect collections and specimens 
which had worldwide application. 
After resigning from the Museum, Wheeler became a full Professor of Zoology at 
the University of Texas and there developed his consuming interest in the behavior 
of ants, which years later culminated in his monumental "Fungus -growing Ants of 
North America". In 1903 Professor Wheeler became Curator of invertebrate zoology 
at the American Museum of Natural History, and then in 1908 took on entomology 
teaching and research duties at Harvard, where he continued his work with social 
insects. 
During his long career Dr. Wheeler produced over 460 publications, some quite 
remarkable in size. He was an excellent and lucid writer with a command of four 
languages in addition to Greek and Latin. He held four honorary doctorates in ad- 
dition to his earned Ph.D. from Clark University, and served as president of the 
Entomological Society of America and head of the American Society of Naturalists. 
William Morton Wheeler actively continued his research activities until his sudden 
death by heart failure at 72 in 1937. 
WISCONSIN INSECT NOTES 
Reports from Federal and State officials monitoring the situation indicate that 
a total of 28 Japanese beetles were trapped this summer in the same limited area of 
the City of Kenosha that produced 13 last year. The increased number of beetles 
taken would seem to indicate the first infestation in Wisconsin is now a fact, but 
no official announcement to that effect has been made. 
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