352 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 





TRUFFLE.— TUBERA TERR^l. 



This subterraneous vegetable, or under- 

 ground mushroom, is in the Linnaean system 

 considered a species of the Lycoperdon or 

 puff-ball. 



The name of Truffle is derived from the 

 Latin Tuber, or Tubercidum. The ancients 

 called it Lycoperdon, because they thought it 

 sprang from the dung of wolves. 



Truffles were so highly esteemed by the 

 Greeks, at their first introduction at Athens, 

 that the children of Cherips had the right of 

 citizens granted them because their father 

 had invented a kind of ragout made of truffles. 

 The Romans seem to have held them in equal 

 estimation, and their great Naturalist has not 

 omitted to furnish us with an account of the 

 places from whence they were procured. 

 Pliny mentions the truffles found in the pro- 

 vince of Cyrenaica in Africa, as being the 

 most agreeable in taste and smell ; the best 

 in Asia, says he, are those of Lampsacum and 

 Alopeconnesus, and the best that Greece 



