COMMON TRUFFLE. 577 



limits of the United States. It is said to be found abundantly 

 in some parts of Great Britain, particularly in Wiltshire, 

 Kent, and Hampshire. It is collected in large quantities in 

 some portions of France, and is indigenous to other countries 

 of Europe. 



The following description by Mas- 

 call, in connection with the engraving, 

 will give an accurate idea of its size, 

 form, color, and general character : 

 * k The size rarely much exceeds that of 

 a large walnut. Its form is rounded, 



I he Inline. 



sometimes kidney-shaped, and rough 



with protuberances. The surface, when the truffle is young, 

 is whitish, but in those that are full grown it is either black- 

 ish or a deep black. The color of the inside is whitish, with 

 dark blue and white, gray, reddish, light brown, or dark 

 brown veins, of the thickness of a horsehair, which are usu- 

 ally variously entangled, and which form a kind of network, 

 or mat. Between the veins are numerous cavities, filled 

 with mucilage, and small, solid grains. These scarcely visi- 

 ble glands were formerly said to be the seeds, or germs, of 

 the young truffles. The less the inside of the truffle is 

 colored with dark veins, the more tender and delicious is its 

 flesh. 



*' The blackish, external rind is hard, and very rough, by 

 means of fine fissures, grains, and protuberances, and forms, 

 with its small facets (which are almost hexagonal), an ap- 

 pearance by which it somewhat resembles the fir-apples of 

 the larch. Whilst the truffle is young, its smell resembles 

 that of putrid plants, or of moist vegetable earth. When 

 it has nearly attained its full growth, it diffuses an agreeable 

 smell, which is peculiar to it, resembling that of musk, which 

 lasts only a few days : it then becomes stronger, and the 

 nearer the fungus is to its dissolution, which speedily ensues, 

 49 



