THE SNAP-DEAGON. 



Antirrhinum mnji/s. 



HY should this gay flower be 

 called a snap-dragon ? To snap^ 

 in vulgar parlance^ is to bite 

 suddenly, or to utter biting 

 words in a snappish or sudden 

 and ungentle manner, as in a 

 characteristic passage in Cow- 

 per's " Task "— 



" Is Winter hideous in a garb like this ? 

 Needs he the tragic fur, the smoke of 



lamps, 

 The pent-up hreath of an uusav'ry 



throng, 

 To thaw him into feeling ; or the smart 

 And snappish dialogue that flippant wits 

 Call comedy, to prompt him with a 



smile ?" 



Although the dragon the flower 

 is supposed to represent in the 

 act of snapping is a creature of the imagination, it is 

 more or less reptilian, and the gaping mouth and huge 

 under jaws of a lizard or crocodile are very fairly suggested 

 in the conformation of the flower. The botanical name 

 AntirrJiinum refers to the snout-like figure of the flower, 

 and so we are doubly compelled to take notice of its place 

 in the long' catalo.o'ue of "mimetic '■' plants, which are not 



