* 
366 Dr. Williams’s Floral, Zoological, and 
March 14. Broad leaved panic grass (Panicum. latifolium) be- 
ginning to sprout ona southern exposure, while there 
is sleighing in the street. A solitary spathe of skunk- 
cabbage (Pothos fwtida) beginning to show itself on 
the.same exposure. Leaves of the curled dock (Rumex 
crispa) appeared in the same place. Maple-trees tapped 
for sugar. 
16. Pothos fetida in full flower. 
25, Black ducks arrived. Catkins of the poplar-tree (Popu- 
lus tremuloides) expanded. Catkins of the speckled wil- 
low (Salix Muhlenbergiana) expanded. 
30. Wild geese arrived. Phebe arrived. 
It began to rain hard on the first of March, and continued 
raining two days anda half, which nearly carried off an im- 
mense body of snow which enveloped the ground, Our 
which were more firmly locked with ice than they had 
been before known for many years to be, rose aboye their 
usual bounds, and swept the ice with such rapidity down their 
annels as to destroy most of the bridges on Connecticut 
_ Yiver, besides doing immense damage in other respects. Our 
meadows were nearly all under ice and water; and at that 
time a great explosion was heard in the north meadows, two 
miles from the street, similar to the noise of a cannon. It 
was occasioned by the throwing up of an immense quantity of 
frozen ground, which is a great curiosity. ‘The cause is not 
yet satisfactorily explained. The weather was very warm 
and pleasant from the 4th to the 22d. What snow the rain 
did not carry off was melted by the sun during the pleasant 
weniher. Vegetation had begun to put forth rapidly, and 
our birds of passare had arrived. A storm, which 
commenced on the 22d, as rapidly retarded the progress of 
vegetation as it was beriie accelerated, and the remainder © 
the month was gloomy and egiortable. Mud mid-leg deep 
in the streets. 
April 7. Flower-buds of the elm (Ulmus americana) beginning 
to swell. 
