U FAMILIAR GAKDEX FLOWERS. 



mimetic, Ijecause in their resemljlanees and reminders of 

 animal form tliey are altogether passive and incapable of 

 intention. 



Aiit'irrlilnum majus is probably not a native plant, but 

 it is so thoroughly naturalised that it may well rank as 

 such, and it is certainly one of the most splendid and in- 

 teresting of our \^'ildings. Nowhere does it appear to such 

 advantage as on the old bastion flaunting its gay banner 

 amid grey ruins, or on the old garden wall, where perhaps 

 the common polypody and the wallflower fight ^\•ith it for 

 the choicer crevices. It has afforded us immense amnse- 

 ment to note the wanderings and variations of the plant 

 in our own garden. It first appeared on an aitificial 

 ruin that was constructed chiefly for the accommodation of 

 sedums, semper\'ivums, hardy ferns, and the like. On a 

 very commanding pinnacle, one bright summer day, a splen- 

 did plant of crimson snap-dragon was discovered, flowering 

 gaily, and seeming to sing " I am king of the castle." 

 The next year there were many such, all in commanding 

 positions, for they appeared to ha^e a gift of geography 

 in finding peaks and passes and table-lands in various parts 

 of the garden. But as they thus spread without aid, and 

 generally sprouting without hindrance, the}' broke into a 

 variety of colours, and during a run of abnut twenty years 

 they abounded yearly, and the best of them always were 

 those of a full rich crimson colour and those of a delicate 

 primrose-white or straw-yellow. One day in the latter 

 j)art of the summer of 1S7S, we were pointing out to a 

 friend how a number of young plum and apple trees had 

 appeared on the rough brick dome of the stoke-hole con- 

 nected with the plant-houses, and on looking about we 

 discovered a plantation uf dozens of snap-dragons uf all 



