TH$ FIRST DAFFODIL. 89 



lilies, snowflake, and flowering rush, where all six 

 pieces are equal and similar, to flowers like the crocus, 

 meadow saffron, and daffodil, where the six pieces ara 

 united together into a long tube. But, furthermore, 

 and in the second place, the daffodils and the others of 

 the narcissus kind have done more than the mere 

 ordinary tubular blossoms, inasmuch as they have pro- 

 duced a singular outgrowth in the shape of the crown 

 or cup, which forms, as it were, a vestibule to the 

 tube, and thus still better ensures the proper fertilisa- 

 tion of the flower. In some of the pink tribe (amongst 

 the five-rayed flowers) we get a scale or parapet on 

 each petal in somewhat the same way; but in the- 

 daffodil and its allies the crown is united and circular, 

 like the tube, though one can still trace six wavy 

 lobes or sinuosities on its edge. In some exotic 

 members of the narcissus group the crown is very 

 small and rudimentary, and is brilliantly coloured with 

 red or orange, so that it seems rather to act as a 

 honey-guide for the bees than as an additional aid to 

 fertilisation ; but in the wild English daffodil it has 

 reached a very high state of development, and occu- 

 pies at least half the entire length of the blossom. 



One word more as to its colour. The daffodil is a 

 pale yellow, and it apparently depends mainly for im- 

 pregnation upon the visits of diurnal insects. Hence 

 it is quite scentless, for its large size and brilliant 

 colour suffice to attract quite enough visitors, without 

 any necessity for the extra allurement of sweet 

 perfume. But many of the southern species, like the- 



