36 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
apparition one may greet a multitude of con- 
current visitors, arriving so accurately together 
that it is almost a matter of accident which of 
the party shall first report himself. Perhaps 
the Dandelion should have the earliest place ; 
indeed, I once found it in Brookline on the 
7th of April. But it cannot ordinarily be ex- 
pected before the 20th, in Eastern Massachu- 
setts, and rather later in the interior ; while by 
the same date I have also found near Boston 
the Cowslip, or Marsh Marigold, the Spring 
Saxifrage, the Anemones, the Violets, the Bell- 
wort, the Houstonia, the Cinquefoil, and the 
Strawberry blossom. Varying, of course, in 
different spots and years, the arrival of this 
coterie is yet nearly simultaneous, and they 
may all be expected hereabouts before May Day 
at the very latest. After all, in spite of the 
croakers, this festival could not have been 
much better timed; for the delicate blossoms 
which mark the period are usually in perfec- 
tion on this day, and it is not long before they 
are past their prime. 
Some early plants which have now almost 
disappeared from Eastern Massachusetts are 
still found near Worcester in the greatest 
abundance, —as the larger Yellow Violet, the 
Red Trillium, the dwarf Ginseng, the Clintonia 
or Wild Lily of the Valley, and the pretty 
