Note 5 — ETYMOLOGIES.

There are three kinds of esculent funguses in Italy to which the epithet albus might apply, viz. the Amanita alba, of Persoon, the Lycoperdon Bovista, Linn. (or common puff-ball), and Agaricus campestris, Linn. (our common mushroom). The first kind grows in woods, and the second in dry uncultivated spots, whereas Ovid mentions these in conjunction with the Mallow (Malva), which grows in moist meadow-land; it is probable, therefore, that he here alludes to the Pratajolo, or meadow mushroom, or to that variety of it called from its whiteness “boule de neige.”