Insects and Mushrooms 



wells sunk in search of an underground mush- 

 room (Hydnocystis orenaria, TUL.), which 

 constitutes his regular nourishment. He is 

 also an ardent lover of truffles. I have taken 

 from between his legs, at the bottom of his 

 manor-house, a real truffle the size of a hazel- 

 nut {Tuber Re qui e nii, TUL.). I tried to rear 

 him in order to make the acquaintance of his 

 grub; I housed him in a large earthen pan 

 filled with fresh sand and enclosed in a bell- 

 cover. Possessing neither hydnocistes nor 

 truffles, I served him up sundry mushrooms of 

 a rather firm consistency, like those of his 

 choice. He refused them all, helvellas and cla- 

 varise, chanterelles and pezizse alike. 



With a rhizopogon, a sort of little fungoid 

 potato, which is frequent in pine-woods at a 

 moderate depth and sometimes even on the 

 surface, I achieved complete success. I had 

 strewn a handful of them on the sand of my 

 breeding-pan. At nightfall, I often surprised 

 the Bolboceras issuing from his well, explor- 

 ing the stretch of sand, choosing a piece not 

 too big for his strength and gently rolling it 

 towards his abode. He would go in again, 

 leaving the rhizopogon, which was too large to 

 take inside, on the threshold, where it served 



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