270 



RAllDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Dec. 1, 1866. 



of greater or less intensity when the fish discharges, 

 proving that all the conducting matter round the 

 fish is filled at the moment with circulating electric 

 power, resembling generally in disposition the mag- 

 netic curves of a magnet. The Gymnotus feeds on 

 other fish, which it kills by giving them a shock ; 

 this it does by forming a coil round the fish, so that 

 it should represent a diameter across it. Living, as 

 the Gymnotus does, in the midst of such a good 

 conductor as water, it seems at first surprising that 

 it can sensibly electrify anything; but, in fact, it 

 is the very conducting power of the water which 

 favours and increases the shock by moistening the 

 skin of the animal through which the Gymnotus 

 discharges its battery. 



Fig. 250. 



Tlie Silurus eledricus. — This fish is shown in fig. 

 250. It is found in the Senegal, the Niger, and the 

 Nile. It is about 20 inches long. The shock is 

 distinctly felt when it is laid on one hand, and 

 touched by a metallic rod held in the other. Its 

 electrical organs are much less complicated than 

 those of other electrical fishes. Other known 

 electrical fishes are the Tetraodon eledricus, found 

 in the Canary Islands, and the Trichiarus eledricus, 

 which inhabits the Indian seas ; several others 

 have been met with, but not hitherto accurately 

 described. 



[The above account has been taken from "The 

 Student's Text Book of Electricity," by H. M. Noad. 

 London : Lockwood & Co. ; and the woodcuts 

 from the same work were kindly lent by the pub- 

 lisher.—^.] 



PUFF-BALLS. 



/~\NE of the many amusements of country school- 

 ^-^ boys, of which boys in town are innocent, is. 

 or used to be, " when we were boys together," to 

 puff in each other's faces the fine, brown, snuffy dust 

 which fills the interior of ripe " puff-balls," or as 

 they are called by some, with more of terseness than 

 elegance, "devil's snuff-boxes." During the past 

 autumn we took a stroll for a few miles into the. coun- 

 try with a friend, when all of a sudden he stopped, 

 and looking intently at some object at his feet 

 shouted, in apparent delight, "Why here's a bulfer ! " 

 Here we must pause also, to inform our readers 

 that in Norfolk these " puff-balls " are invariably 

 called " bulfers." It was evident that our friend, 

 doomed to a city life, had not seen a puff-ball for 

 many years. Perhaps he had scarcely recognized one 

 since his boyhood, and, as he afterwards confessed, 



the thing and its provincial name were so associated 

 together that he pronounced the latter at once as 

 though it were classic, and immediately afterwards 

 came the reflection that it was only a provincialism, 

 which he had scarce heard since he went to school. 

 Never had we suspected that our city friend was an 

 East Anglian, until this one word told the tale, and 

 henceforth a closer bond was kuit between us by 

 the confession, " and I'm Norfolk too." 



The true "puff-balls " are a genus of fungi which 

 bear the scientific name of Lycoperdon. They 

 belong to a family in which an outer covering ovperi- 

 dium encloses a mass of dusty spores more or less 

 mixed with delicate threads. In their early stage 

 they are pulpy or gelatinous, and when ripe not 

 unlike snuff. Of this genus the following 

 seven species are found in our islands. 



First of all there is the "smooth giant 

 puff-ball," Lycoperdon giganteum, sometimes 

 as large as one's head, and at first whitish 

 or of a parchment colour, and with an outer 

 covering as soft to the touch as a kid-glove. 

 Internally the substance is firm and of a creamy 

 whiteness, but not hard like some others in an 

 allied genus. The end of the finger makes, and 

 leaves its impression, almost as readily as on a lump 

 of fresh " putty." With the progress of growth the 

 interior gets discoloured, assumes a greenish tint, 

 which darkens into. olive, and finally, when mature, 

 the whole internal substance, except the spongy base, 

 resolves into a greenish dust. In its young and 

 fleshy state, whilst still of a creamy whiteness, it fur- 

 nishes a dish which an epicure might envy. Many 

 a time and oft, has our latter end been prophesied 

 by astonished and alarmed villagers in rural districts, 

 when we have informed them that we intended to 

 eat the great white puff-ball, as big as a loaf, which 

 we carried under our arm. Many a time have we 

 made a similar meal, and the prophecy is not yet 

 fulfilled. By dint, in some instances, of a little 

 deception at the first, and in others by commencing 

 the gastronomic attack, and protesting in favour 

 of its harmlessness, we have introduced "fried puff- 

 ball" to the breakfast-tables of many personal friends, 

 but in no single instance was deception or protesta- 

 tion needed after the first experiment, for they have 

 all become even more enthusiastic in its favour than 

 the introducer of the article. 



There is also a " rough giant puff-ball " [L. ccela- 

 tum) which almost vies with the above in dimensions, 

 but the surface is rough and the interior is filled when 

 ripe with a mass of dingy yellow spores. This often 

 forms large rings, or parts of rings in pastures, and, 

 as far as we arc aware, is in no phase of its existence 

 edible, although we are informed by a gentleman to 

 whom we introduced the smooth puff-ball as a 

 breakfast relish, that he has also eaten this species, 

 as well as Lycoperdon gemmatum, in its young and 

 pulpy state. 



