Botrytis

( Bot.) A genus of microscopic Fungi, or moulds, chiefly remarkable as containing the parasitic species of fungus which plays so important a part in the development of potato disease. This species is best known as B. infestans, though it is sometimes referred to the genus Per onos por a. The fungous disease in silkworms, called muscardine, is attributable to another species, B. Ba i an a. The nomenclature of these minute fungi is so fluctuating, owing to increased facility for studying their organization, that the species above referred to may not improbably soon bear other names. Bots, Botts, n. pl. (Zool.) The larvæ or caterpillar of the gad-fly, belonging to the genus Estrus, of which there are numerous species. They infest horses and cattle, and are distinguished by pa ing the larval state of their existence within some animal, and feeding on the juices or substance of that animal. See GAD-FLY.