I 62 BRITISH EDIBLE FUNGI. 



dules, sometimes nearly as large as the fist, at others 

 not exceeding that of a walnut. The interior is 

 pallid and mottled, the darker spots indicating 

 cavities filled with the blackish spores. Hunting for 

 mushrooms is comparatively easy, for the object of 

 search is visible when present, but truffles might be 

 plentiful, two or three inches beneath the surface, and 

 not be visible, or give any sign of their presence. 

 The only method available in such cases is to find some 

 animal which instinct or appetite might prompt to 

 scent out the buried treasure, and mark its hiding- 

 place. Two kinds of animals have been trained for 

 this purpose — truffle dogs in our own country and 

 truffle pigs in France. In both cases the odour of 

 the truffle is sufficient for the keen scent of the 

 animals, whilst the human hunter profits by the 

 produce. These are the instructions — " You must 

 have a sow, of five months old, a good walker, with 

 her rrfouth strapped up, and for her efforts recom- 

 pense her w^ith acorns ; but as pigs are not easily led, 

 are stubborn, and go astray, and dig after a thousand 

 other things, there is but little to be done with them. 

 Dogs are better ; of these select a small poodle." 

 Another writer says of truffle hunting in France : 

 " A sow is employed to search for the truffles. At 

 the distance of twenty feet she scents the truffles and 

 makes rapidly for the foot of the oak where she finds 

 them, and digs into the e^rth with her snout. She 

 would soon root up and eat her treasure were she 



