THE TERFAS OF AFRICA AND THE ORIENT 



parts of greater Greece, east of the ^gean 

 and Mediterranean Seas, and the early ref- 

 erences to them are particularly interesting. 

 From the Deipnosophists of Athenasus we 

 learn that Theophrastus spoke of them thus : 

 ^'the production and generation of these 

 things which seed beneath the earth; as, 

 for instance, of the truffle, and of a plant 

 which grows around Cyrene, which they call 

 misy. And it appears to be exceedingly 

 sweet, and to have a smell like that of meat; 

 and so, too, has a plant called itum, which 

 grows in Thrace. And a peculiarity is men- 

 tioned as incidental to these things; for men 

 say that they appear when there is heavy rain 

 in autumn and violent thunder; especially 

 when there is thunder, as that is a more 

 stimulating cause of them; however, they 

 do not last more than a year, as they are only 

 annuals; they are in the greatest perfection 

 in the spring, when they are most plentiful. 

 Not but what there are people who believe 

 that they are or can be raised from seed. 

 At all events they say that they never ap- 



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