The Snake Weed was called by the ancients, Dragon and Little Dragon, and the Sneezewort, Dragon of the Woods. The Snap-dragon appears to have been so named merely from the shape of its corolla, but in many places it is said to have a supernatural influence, and to possess the power of destroying charms. Snakes are represented by the _Fritillaria Meleagris_, which is called Snake’s Head, on account of its petals being marked like Snakes’ scales. The Sea Grass (_Ophiurus incurvatus_) is known as Snake’s Tail, and the Bistort (_Polygonum Bistorta_) is Snake Weed. Vipers have the _Echium vulgare_ dedicated to them under the name of Viper’s Bugloss, a plant supposed to cure the bite of these reptiles; and the _Scorzonera edulis_, or Viper’s Grass, a herb also considered good for healing wounds caused by Vipers. The Scorpion finds a vegetable representative in the _Myosotis_, or Scorpion Grass, so named from its spike resembling a Scorpion’s Tail. It is not surprising to find that Toads and Frogs, living as they do among the herbage, should have several plants named after them. The Toad, according to popular superstition, was the impersonation of the Devil, and therefore it was only fit that poisonous and unwholesome Fungi should be called Toad Stools, the more so as there was a very general belief that Toads were in the habit of sitting on them:-- “The griesly Todestol grown there mought I see, And loathed paddocks lording on the same.”--_Spenser._ Growing in damp places, haunted by Toads croaking and piping to one another, the _Equisetum limosum_, with its straight, fistulous stalks, has obtained the name of Toad Pipe. The _Linaria vulgaris_, from its narrow Flax-like leaves, is known as Toad Flax, from a curious mistake of the old herbalists who confounded the Latin words _bubo_ and _bufo_. Frogs claim as their especial plants the Frog Bit (_Morsus ranæ_), so called because Frogs are supposed to eat it; Frog’s Lettuce (_Potamogeton densus_); Frog Grass (_Salicornia herbacea_); and Frog Foot, a name originally assigned to the Vervain (the leaf of which somewhat resembles a Frog’s foot); but now transferred to the Duck Meat, _Lemna_. Bees are recognised in the _Delphinium grandiflorum_, or Bee Larkspur; the _Galeopsis Tetrahit_, or Bee Nettle; the _Ophrys apifera_, or Bee Orchis; and the _Daucus Carota_, or Bee’s Nest. [Headpiece] CHAPTER XIII. The Doctrine of Plant Signatures.