Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 1149 
. June 9th.—Mr. Samuel Henshaw submitted the following 
notes: The late spring of this year prevented the buds of the 
forest trees unfolding at their usual time, but when they did begin, 
their growth was astonishingly rapid. The horse chestnuts had 
finished their year’s growth in nine days, the beech in about ten 
days, and other trees correspondingly rapid, as if nature was trying 
to make up for the delay. Indeed, I have noticed that no matter 
whether it is an early or late spring, by the first week in June all 
seasons are nearly alike. 
The blizzard played queer freaks with the hardy trees; some 
Japanese maples, that have stood the last twelve years without any 
protection, have suffered—one is dead and the others have lost a 
Some trees look as if the bark on the windward side had 
street, N. Y., and at York, Penn., it had been observed feeding on 
potatoes. It has been found in numbers in cellars and cisterns on 
Staten Island. 
are of considerable interest. Thus, there are 1,264 species and 
varieties enumerated, all of which are in our herbarium, with the 
exception of about 30, which have not yet been collected, although 
reported upon good authority. These species are distributed among 
511 genera and 111 families. 1225 are Phanerogams or flowering 
plants and thirty-nine are the higher Cryptogams—ferns and 
allies. The Angiosperms number 916, of which 377 are Polypetalous, 
405 are Gamopetalous and 134 are Apetalous. The Gymnosperms 
number six. The Dicotyledones number 916 and the Monocotyle- 
dones 303. 
- Ifthey are divided roughly into herbs, shrubs and trees, we have 
1,094 herbs, eighty-eight shrubs and seventy-two trees. Considering 
them as native and introduced the numbers are about 1039 native 
and 225 introduced. The largest family is Composite, with its fifty- 
