470 HABITS AND LATIN NAMES OP BRITISH PLANTS. 



from white to the true game-breed hue, and vice versa, three or four times in their 

 lives. The cause is over excitement of the passions, and too much exercise. The 

 effect of these and other stimuli in Man is to turn the hair white, or to cause it 

 to fall off, partially or entirely. 

 Campsall Hall, July 28, 1838. 



ON THE HABITS AND PECULIARITIES OF BRITISH PLANTS, 

 AND ON THE DERIVATIONS OF THEIR LATIN NAMES. 



By T. B. Hall. 

 (Continued from p. 376.) 



Antirrhinum. — Avnppivov, from am, resembling, and ptv, a nose, from the 

 appearance of the flowers of some of the species resembling a calf's snout. 



Antirrhinum majus, Great Snapdragon. — In Russia this plant is said to be 

 cultivated for its seed, which yields an oil little inferior to that of Olives. 

 Though the seeds vegetate on the ground, it is only in dry soils and situations 

 that the plant continues to live long enough to produce flowers. It is probably 

 not originally indigenous, but certainly a valuable acquisition even to the flower- 

 garden, into which several striking varieties have been introduced, with blossoms 

 of finely-contrasted red and white, or altogether of the richest crimson. " The 

 flowers of these plants are perfect insect-traps. Multitudes of small creatures 

 seek an entrance into the corolla through the closed lips — which upon a slight 

 pressure yield a passage — attracted by the sweet liquor found at the base of the 

 germen ; but when so admitted there is no return ; the lips are closed, and all 

 advance to them is impeded by a dense thicket of woolly matter, which invests 

 the mouth of the lower jaw— 



' Smooth lies the road to Pluto's gloomy shade ; 



But 'ts a long unconquerable pain, 



To climb to the sethereal realms again.' 



But this Snapdragon is more merciful than'most of our Muscicapce. The creature 

 receives no injury ; but having consumed the nectareous liquor, and finding no 

 egress, breaks from its dungeon by gnawing a hole at the base of the tube, and 

 thus returns to liberty and light. The extraordinary manner in which the corolla 

 is formed, the elastic force with which the lower limb closes and fits upon the 

 projection of the upper, manifest the obvious design of the great Architect, 

 ' whose hands bended the rainbow ;' and the insects are probably the destined 

 agents whereby the germen is impregnated ; for as soon as this is effected, the 



