Dnffcrtnls btflfn to peer. 95 



Righ, nobtlis, princeps, and a form of single 

 Telamonius are all distinct and desirable forms. 



In a great vaseful of daffodils before me, 

 cernuus, the drooping white Narcissus, is con- 

 spicuous, nodding lithely from its fluted stalk. 

 Its sulphur perianth changing to white, and pale 

 primrose tube, are heightened in their refined 

 effect by its pendulous habit. It is a Spanish 

 flower, and, as it can not wear a mantilla, it co- 

 quettishly hangs its lovely head. Smaller, but 

 also beautiful, is Circe, one of the Leeds forms 

 of the tea-cup section, with white perianth seg- 

 ments, and a cup changing from canary to white. 

 The white daffodils generally possess a superior 

 air of good breeding ; they always seem dressed 

 for the drawing-room. The yellow ones, even 

 where they are superlatively handsome, look as 

 if they preferred a romp or a game of tennis. 



The Pyrenean pallidus prcecox is invariably 

 the first daffodil in the garden, closely succeeded 

 by the distinct obvallaris or Tenby ; the pale 

 straw-color and cernuous habit of the one con- 

 trasting strongly with the vivid gold and large, 

 wide-mouthed crown of the other. I have yet 

 to see the daffodil which can compare with the 

 intensity of its gold. " The causes of the singu- 

 lar and almost blinding intensity of the color," 

 Hamerton explains from a painter's standpoint, 



