(Lat. draco, Gk. δράκων), a fabulous kind of fiery winged serpent, or nondescript creature, much celebrated in the romances of the middle ages. The dragon, in heraldry, is borne in coats, crests, and supporters. Dragon is also the name of a constellation in the northern hemisphere. See ASTRONOMY. The name Draconides is likewise applied to a genus of small Saurian reptiles.

Draco's Head and Tail (exposit et cauda draconis), are the nodes of the planets, or the two points in which the ecliptic is intersected by the orbits of the planets, and particularly that of the moon, making with it angles of 5 degrees and 18 minutes. One of these points looks northward, the moon beginning then to have north latitude; and the other southward, where she commences south. Thus her deviation from the ecliptic seems, according to the fancy of some, to make a figure like that of a dragon, whose belly is where she has the greatest latitude; the intersection representing the head and tail, from which resemblance the denomination arises. But these points abide not always in one place, but have a motion of their own in the zodiac, and retrograde 3 minutes 11 seconds per day, completing their circle in 18 years 225 days; so that the moon can be but twice in the ecliptic during her monthly period, and at all other times she will have a latitude or declination from the ecliptic. It is about these points of intersection that all eclipses happen. They are usually denoted by these characters, & dragon's head, & dragon's tail.

Dragon's Blood, a resinous substance much used for tinging spirit and turpentine varnishes, for preparing gold lacquer, staining marble, &c. It is the produce of several trees,—as Calamus draco, Dracaena draco, Pterocarpus draco, &c.; and is imported from the East Indies, Africa, and South America, in dark red lumps, in rolls, and in irregular cakes. When pulverized it is of a bright red colour. Its solvents are alcohol, ether, and oils.