PUFF-BALLS 
67 
is a record in the Gardener's Chronicle (1884) of an English 
example 5 ft. 4 in. in circumference. I have seen specimens 
in apple orchards in East Somerset 2 ft. in diam. 
BOVISTELLA 
(Diminutive of Bovista) 
B. paludosa (palitdes , bogs—from its habitat). 
A small species with subglobose reddish-brown, scurfy, 
thin peridium (plicate below), contracted into a distinct stem¬ 
like base. Sterile base pronounced. Gleba dark olive. 
Spores pedicellate. This interesting species was added to 
the British fungus flora in August, 1908, when Mr. T. 
Gibbs gathered it on the moors, Cleveland Hills, Yorkshire. 
Hitherto known only from Malesherbes, France, where it 
was gathered in 1845. It occurs on sphagnum moss in bogs. 
BOVISTA 
(Bofist , a fairy-ball, the German popular name*) 
B. plumbea = Lycoperdon plumbeum (plunibeus , leaden—from 
the colour of the endoperidium). Plate XXI. 1. 
Per. globose, about 2 in. high and broad, outer layer thin 
and whitish, breaking away above, and exposing the thin, 
tough, persistent, lead-coloured inner one. Spore mass 
umber-brown. Frequent in sum. and ant. in dry pastures 
and healthy places. 
B. nigrescens = Lycoperdon nigrescens (nigrescens, turning 
black—from the blackish endoperidium), “ Black Puff-ball.” 
Plate XXI. 3. 
Per. globose, about 2 in. high and broad, outer layer 
whitish, soon breaking away and exposing the tough, 
persistent, shining blackish-umber inner one. Spore mass 
* Dr. Plowright says that the term “ puff-ball ” is not used in Nor¬ 
folk : the Lycoperda are there popularly known as “ bulvers,” “ bull- 
fists,” or “ fuzzy-balls.” 
5—2 
