NATURE NOTES 
196 
I should like to know if they are poisonous. In their early stage they smell 
very like mushrooms. The powder is used to stop bleeding in these parts. What 
are its medical properties? I see from “ Brewer” that puff-ball is a corruption of 
pouk or poukball, anciently called puckfist. The Irish name pookafoot (Saxon, 
polkerfist or toadstool). Shakespeare alludes to this superstition when Prospero 
summons amongst his elves — 
“You whose pastime 
Is to make midnight mushrooms.” 
— “The Tempest,” v., i. 
Zeno. 
[Far from being poisonous, the large puff-ball (Lycoperdon giganteum), when 
fresh, is delicious eating. Personally, we prefer it cut thin and fried crisp ; but a 
little batter may be added. It should be pure white inside resembling white kid ; 
but will keep fresh for several days. As a styptic it is used when old, i.e . , ripe, 
in which condition it is also used as tinder, or for suffocating or stupefying bees. 
Its styptic action is, probably, purely mechanical. — Ed. N. A 7 .] 
SELBORNE SOCIETY NOTICES. 
New Members. — Gilbert Jennirgs, Esq., B.A. and Mrs. Jennings, 
Chertsey ; Rev. W. A. Shaw, M.A. , Haselbeech Rectory ; Miss M. E. 
Maginniss, Daleham Gardens ; Mrs. Mary H. Crafer, Brighton ; Mrs. Norris, 
Brighton; Geo. Morgan, Esq., Brighton; H. J. Matthews, Esq., Hove; Mrs. 
A. F. Griffith, Brighton; Rev. Gerald Moor, Brighton; E. A. Pankhurst, Esq., 
Brighton; 11. S. Toms, Esq., Brighton. 
Donations and Subscriptions.— The Council beg to acknowledge the 
following Subscriptions over 5s. : Rev. W. A. Shaw, M.A., 10s. ; Capl. Jas. 
Cundy, £2 2s. ; Rev. R. Ashington Bullen, ^5 (Life membership). 
FIELD CLUB RAMBLES. 
July 18. — While a storm of thunder and lightning was being experienced in 
London, some ten Selbornians met on Chertsey Station amid a downpour of rain. 
For some time it seemed as if they would get no further, for the rain was so 
heavy and continuous that no attempt was made to leave the station. Soon after 
4 p.m., however, the sky began to lighten and the party started for Mr. Jennings’ 
house. A very kind reception and welcome cups of tea awaited the party, and 
after this Mr. Jennings kindly led the way, as the guide, Dr. Willson, had been 
unexpectedly detained. After inspecting several houses, probably erected from 
the materials of the old abbey, the path w’as taken to the Ferry. The conditions 
of the path and vegetation precluded any botanical ramble, and only the ordinary 
flowers of the hedgerows were noticed. 
The party then crossed the Ferry to Laleham. A fine clump of the greater 
celandine was observed nearly opposite the church. Here the vicar, Mr. Stodart, 
was kind enough to point out several features of architectural interest in the 
edifice, the fine Norman arches being specially admired. The old parish registers 
written on parchment dating back to Henry VIII. ’s time were inspected, and then 
Mr. Stodart led the way to the churchyard and pointed out the tomb of Matthew 
Arnold. In all, five generations of the Arnold family are represented, and the 
vicar had some interesting anecdotes to relate in connection with them. A 
couple of fine old yew trees were much admired, and several headstones of the 
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were also examined. 
Returning the same way to Chertsey, the party was taken by Mr. Jennings to 
inspect the fragments of the Chapter House, the only remains of a once stately 
building. Going back to his house, he showed fragments of tiles glazed and 
unglazed, and pieces of marble pillars and the head of an aumbry and other pieces 
of the old building. Mr. Jennings then read the following memorandum on 
Chertsey Abbey : — 
“One is reminded of Ozymandias’ ‘King of Kings’ when one looks at 
what Chertsey Abbey is, and what Chertsey Abbey was. From the year 666 
to 1536 it would be difficult to find in the whole of the south of England 
a more lordly, or rather princely, establishment than Chertsey Abbey, ana 
