OBSERVATIONS ON PORTUGUESE NARCISSI. 



103 



interest to the papers which had been read that day. Looking 

 back over a dozen years, he thought it astonishing to see the 

 change which had taken place in the interest taken by the public 

 in the genus Daffodil — surely the most popular, except the prim- 

 rose, of all the spring flowers. He could not help feeling, how- 

 ever, how very few species were really useful for market-growing 

 purposes. He thought the Society would do well to keep some 

 record from time to time of the different varieties submitted to 

 their Daffodil Committees. The trouble of keeping such record 

 would be amply repaid by the results which would follow. New 

 varieties were constantly being brought forward and the old ones 

 crowded out. In the course of a few years, again, these were 

 superseded by still newer varieties, until, for the want of some 

 official record, many varieties were lost sight of for all practical 

 purposes. In twenty years time this Record Book would be of 

 great value in naming different varieties of the genus. 



Mr. Fraser in a few remarks detailed his own experience in 

 cultivating Daffodils. 



OBSERVATIONS ON PORTUGUESE NARCISSI. 

 By Mr. Alfred Wilby Tait, F.L.S., Oporto. 

 [Bead April 9, 1889.] 



This spring I have made a few excursions in Northern Portugal 

 with a view to studying more fully the soil, aspect, and general 

 surroundings of the localities where the various species of Nar- 

 cissus are found. I was accompanied by my friend Mr. Charles 

 S. Gordon, who takes a great interest in this class of plants, 

 and has grown most of the species in England with marked 

 success. 



Corbularias. — These begin to flower early ; in the marshes 

 near the sea they begin in January and continue in bloom till 

 the end of April ; in the higher ground they appear in March r 

 and N. nivalis lasts till July in the high mountain ranges. 



I can confirm Mr. Barr's statement that the Corbularias 

 growing in marshes and other damp localities are of a larger 



