366 Dr. Wtlliams'^s Floral, Zoological, and 



March 14. Broad-leaved panic grass (Panicum latifolium) be- 

 ginning to sprout on a southern exposure, while there 

 is sleighing in the street. A solitary spathe of skunk- 

 cabbage (^Pathos foetida) beginning to show itself on 

 the same exposure. Leaves of curled dock {Rumex 

 crispa) appeared in the same place. Maple-trees 

 tapped for sugar. 



16. Pothos foetida in full flower. 



25. Black ducks arrived. Catkins of the poplar-tree {Popu- 

 lus tremuloides) expanded. Catkins of the speckled 

 willow (Salix Muhlenhergiana) expanded. 



30. Wild geese arrived. Phoebe arrived. 



It began to rain hard on the first of March, and continued 

 raining two days and a half, which nearly carried ofi" an im- 

 mense body of snow which enveloped the ground. Our 

 rivers, which were more firmly locked with ice than they had 

 been before known for many years to be, rose above their 

 usual bounds, and swept the ice with such rapidity down their 

 channels as to destroy most of the bridges on Connecticut 

 river, 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 

 weather. Vegetation had begun to put forth rapidly, and 

 many of our birds of passage had arrived. A storm, which 

 commenced on the 22d, as rapidly retarded the progress of 

 vegetation as it was before accelerated, and the remainder of 

 the month was gloomy and uncomfortable. Mud mid-leg deep 

 in the streets. 



April 1. Flower-buds of the elm (Ulmus americana) begin- 

 ning to swell. 



