212 SCBOPHTJLAKIACE2E. 



At Cloth.erliolme, near Eipon, tlie Yellow Snapdragon 

 (A. linaria), grows very freely. Its tall golden spikes adorn 

 the liedgebank, and its closely-set narrow leaves are of a 

 glaucous green. The corolla is shaped like that of the Greater 

 Snapdragon, and is of a light yellow on the lips, while the 

 centre part is of a full orange : hence it is called by country 

 children " Butter and eggs." Our name for it was " Toad 

 Flax." Anne Pratt thus addresses the plant : 



" And thou, LSnaria, mingle in my wreath 

 Thy golden dragons ; for though perfumed breath 

 Escapes not from thy yellow petals, yet 

 Glad thoughts bring'st thou of hedgerow foliage, wet 

 With tears and dew ; lark-warblings and green Ferns 

 O'erspanning crystal runnels, where there turns 

 And twines the glossy Ivy." 



I found a curious variety of the Toad Flax in Wiltshire ; the 

 corolla was regularly five-cleft, and had five spurs. It looked 

 like a kind of cone with five hooks at its base. Smith and 

 Sowerby give a drawing of it, and call it " variety Peloria." 



I was staying near Wanninster in harvest-time, and search- 

 ing one day in the stubble fields my eye caught a small creeping 

 plant with oval hairy leaves of a pale hue. Gathering it, I 

 found that small flowers were situated upon long footstalks 

 springing from the axils of the leaves. The corolla was gaping, 

 the upper lip chocolate-coloured, the under yellow. It was the 

 rare Hound-leaved Snapdragon ! 



In similar fields, close upon the chalk downs, and on walls, 

 I found the Least Snapdragon (A. minus). The plant grows 

 about four inches high, with a branched woody stem, narrow 

 leaves, and minute grey flowers. 



Near "Warminster I had the good fortune to meet with the 

 Lesser Snapdragon (A. orontium). Its stem is almost simple ; 

 its flowers scarce, and without spur ; the corolla purplish-rose 

 colour, with a yellow centre ; and the segments of the calyx 

 longer than the flower. 



The Sharp-pointed Snapdragon (A. elatine), Edward has 



