﻿Proceedings of the Society. 



117 



fuha), Red Elm, was in bloom March 30, and the Dandelion on 

 April 29, while this year, which is, in many respects, the counter- 

 part of it, the first flower, White Maple (Acer dasycarpimi), was 

 out on April 1 and the Dandelion on April 26. But even 1875, 

 the most backward of all, was, on an average, six days in advance 

 of this year ; so that the present year is really a week later than any 

 in the eight recorded years, and seven weeks and two days later 

 than the earliest year ( 1876) out of the same eight. 



In looking at the list, it is further found that three out of these 

 fifteen early flowers are trees; nine of the remainder are provided 

 with bulbs, tubers or rhizomas, in which nourishment is stored up. 

 One (Hepatica) has persistent, evergreen leaves, one has a peren- 

 nial root, and only the remaining one {CapseUd) seems to have no 

 special iund upon which to draw. The importance, then, to herbs 

 of a store of matter which can be speedily utilized at the first op- 

 portunity is here well shown. 



Note. — At the meeting of the Society on May 5, Dr. O. D. Norton corroborated 

 the statement that every alternate year has a backward spring, and stated that he 

 remembered the winter of 1879 and 1880 was very mild. In Vol. V. of the Journal 

 of this Society, p. 65. et seq, is given a list of sixty species of native plants observed 

 in bloom by Dr. Warder on the 4th of April, 1882. A note by D. L. James adds 

 that fifty-one species were observed by him on April 9. 1882, within a limited local- 

 ity. Comparing the lapse of time in other years for fifty species to come into flower, 

 it is found that the average is about forty days. Deducting, then, the forty days 

 from April 4, would indicate that the first flower was in bloom about February 23. 

 This is sufficient to show the forwardness of the spring, and further corroborates the 

 assertion that in every alternate year the spring is late. 



The Secretary read a letter from S. D. Peet, of Clinton, Wiscon- 

 sin, in relation to an article by Dr. W. A. Dun, published in the last 

 number of the Journal. He agreed with Dr. Dun as to the im- 

 portance of accurately locating and describing all archaeologica- 

 " finds," and said: " In the year 1879, there was found a portion 

 of the skeleton of a mastodon in a peat-bed, and near it an arrow- 

 head. This was in Ashtabula County (Ohio). The 'surround- 

 ings ' were very similar to those described by Dr. Dun, though in 

 his 4 find ' there was only an arrow-head, and not a mastodon. 

 The peat-swamp was not so large, as it was only two or three rods 

 across, but it contained peat and white marl, and evidences of fire, 

 the same as the swamp he discovered. The signs of fire gave to 

 me the idea that it was in the prehistoric age that the swamp had 



