8 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
catkins of the Aspen, (populus tremula,). made their ap- 
pearance. 
6th. The Gooseberry, (ribes,) and the Willow, (salix 
babylonica,) in leaf. 
8th. Spiders shoot their webs. Is this ever done, when 
the animal moves about in the warm days of winter? 
9th. Anemone Hepatica blooms in the woods. In the 
gardens, the Blue Violet, and the Daffodil, or Narsisus, 
are in flower. The violet, — the vernal crocus, — the snow- 
drop, and many other plants, which flower in the begin- 
ning of spring, cannot by any pains or care, be made to 
blossom in the autumn, or after the summer solstice. It 
is remarkable, that these plants, which are so very patient 
of the cold of spring, should in the autumn be so tender 
as not to endure the first hard frost. There are, however, 
many exceptions to this rule. The willow tree, or salix 
babylonica, is one of the first trees clothed in verdure, and 
is also one of the last that the frost of autumn strips of its 
leaves. It is said that thistles, and some other plants, in 
Sweden, which flower about the time of the summer sol- 
stice, never blossom before or after, and that husbandmen 
judge from this circumstance, as from a calendar which 
cannot deceive them, whether the solstice be past. (See 
Stillingfleet’s Miscellaneous Tracts, page 140.) 
10 th. The Skunk Cabbage, (dracontium faetidum,) in 
flower, in moist situations. 
11 th. A beautiful species of dytiscus, called here the 
Water Witch, plays on the surface of the small streams. 
Most of these insects were in pairs. 
12 th. Ants open their holes. The Martin, (hirundo 
purpurea,) appeared. The garden Hyacinth, (hyacinthus 
orientalis,) in flower. In the woods, I saw the Blood 
Root, or Sanguinaria Canadensis, in bloom. 
14//t. Bees begin to collect honey. They always come 
from their hives in the warm days of winter. Pliny says 
they do not leave them till the 11th of May, and seems to 
blame Aristotle for saying they came out in March or the 
beginning of spring. 
Moles, (sorex cristatus,) throw up hillocks; this is, I 
believe, performed much earlier, though I have not seen 
any indications of it. 
The Willow, (salix babylonica,) in blossom. I saw 
for the first time a pair of Chipping Birds, (fringilla so- 
cialist) or American sparrows. I heard their notes, how- 
ever, a considerable time ago. The name Chipping is 
from the note they have when hopping on the ground, or 
among the branches; their love song is very different. 
15 th. Reddish orange Butterfly, (papilio viola,) 
whose wings are spotted with black, and expand about an 
inch and a half, appeared flying about a cluster of full 
blown daffodils. 
The young Grasshopper, (gryllus,) without wings, is 
jumping about on the grass. In this state, it secretes a 
remarkable quantity of a brownish fluid from its mouth. 
A small dipterous insect, resembling what is called the 
May-fly, and a small kind of scaraboeus, appeared. 
Crickets open their holes in the fields, and play around 
them. The common Mud Wasp was seen. In one of 
the warm days in February last, I saw one of these insects 
crawling torpidly in the sun. I placed it under a tumbler, 
near my fire-place, and fed it on honey. It became active 
and vigorous ; but died in about two weeks after its cap- 
ture. A friend has related a curious instance respecting 
this species of wasp. One summer afternoon a wasp flew 
into the room where he was sitting, and upon watching its 
motions he observed it fly to a number of small spider’s 
nests, and shake them with his feet, as if he were entangled 
by them. He was at a loss to understand this manoeuvre, 
till the wasp at last flew to a web, which he commenced 
shaking as he did the others; a spider then darted from 
his hiding place, no doubt expecting to seize some unfor- 
tunate insect, which he supposed was fastened in his snare; 
but the wasp grappled him as soon as he came within 
reach, and bore him off in triumph. 
I saw large numbers of the Humble Bee lying dead on 
the ground, which appear to have been thrown out of 
their holes, which are bored in the rails of the fences. I 
thought them torpid, and endeavoured to revive them; 
they were both male and female. I suppose they must 
have been killed by the severity of the last winter. I also 
saw them flying. 
1 6th. Ants deposit their eggs under stones. 
Straivberries, (fragrariaelatioret virginiana,) in flower. 
(Ulmus Americana) Elm Tree, in flower. The Peach 
Tree, (amigdalus?) in blossom. Asparagus, (medeola,) 
proper for cutting for the table. 
llth. Gooseberries in flower. 
21 st. Anemone Thalictroides in bloom. Currants, 
(ribes) begin to form. Cherry tree, (prunus) in full 
blossom. Cabbage plants set out. 
247//,. Ranunculus Abortivus flowers. 
26th. The Dandelion, (leontodon taraxacum,) flowers. 
Dr. Barton, in the third volume of the American Phi- 
losophical Transactions, says, this plant is not indige- 
nous; it is certainly found in places remote from any habi- 
tation. Blue Violet in the woods, (viola cuculata,) flowers. 
28 th. Saxifragia Virginia, nivalis and vernalis, in flow- 
ers, in the woods, and road-sides. I transplanted the 
saxifragia vernalis to a little box in my chamber, where it 
flourishes very well. The flowers, which are situated on the 
top of a scapus, follow the course of the sun, like the He- 
lanthus. This plant was in bloom a week since. 
