MEMOIR OF PALLAS. 43 



the Volga was so far cleared that two-thirds of its 

 bed was free of ice. The north wind which pre- 

 vailed on the 13th very much hastened the descent 

 of the ice, till the 15th, when it was entirely free. 

 It rarely happens that the opening of the river is 

 later than this date, and sometimes it is accom- 

 plished in March. The weather was beautiful and 

 the country was covered with flowers by the middle 

 of April. The willow and hazel-nut began to flower 

 on the 14th; between the 15th and the 17th, all 

 the cleared spots were strewed with patentilla and 

 spring Adonis, and the star of Bethlehem. Violets 

 and anemonies surrounded the shrubs in full blos- 

 som. The birch and service now put on their 

 summer garb, as did most other shrubs by the 

 20th. The almond-tree and the wild cherry, the 

 tulip and scented iris, blue and purple, yellow and 

 white valerians, astragulus, and very many other 

 flowers were in blossom before the 20th of April, 

 and formed an agreeable carpet upon all the hills. 

 The wild apple and the arbutus, which is very 

 common about Samara, were in flower by the end 

 of the month, as well as the fruit-yielding robinia 

 and the prickly cysiicus, which generally afiects all 

 the moist parts of the moors. 



" Birds of passage had made their appearance at 

 an earlier date. By the 19th of March we noticed 

 flocks of geese and wild swans ; by the 25th, quan- 

 tities of all sorts of ducks appeared in the free parts 

 of the river ; lapwings did not show themselves till 

 the 26th, but before the end of March all the aqua- 



