THE MOSSES, FUNGI, AND LICHENS. 319 



ignite it. In Norfolk, these Puff-balls are very 

 abundant and very large, frequently growing to 

 the size of a man's head. There they commonly go 

 by the name of "bulfers," and we have been grieved 

 to see them kicked about by the nailed boots of 

 agricultural labourers, who were little aware how 

 they were treating real dainties ! Fig. 258 is a nearly 



Fig. 258. 



Lycoperdon atropurpureum. a. Spore, 



pear-shaped puff-ball, without stem a feature whose 

 absence will readily lead to its identification. The 

 spores are of a dark purple-brown colour, hence the 

 scientific specific name. The species bearing a stem 

 (Fig. 259) often grows to a height of six inches. 

 The commonest of our native puff-balls, however, is 

 that whose top is covered with a mealy-looking wart 

 (Fiff. 200, Lycoperdon gemmatum). The scars left by 



