Varieties of the Dog. 43 
preservation and production. They can dry it, or pre- 
serve it in oil, vinegar, or brine; and in neither case does 
the conserve lose much of its aroma, flavour, or nutritious 
quality. One Italian species is produced by scattering a 
shallow layer of soil upon a porous slab of stone, and 
occasionally moistening it with water ; another, by slightly 
burning, and subsequently watering, blocks of hazel-wood; 
and a third (a species of Agaricus) is cultivated by placing 
the grounds of coffee in places favourable for its growth. 
The market returns of Rome show that as much as 
44,000 a year are expended on these productions ; and 
that the peasantry of France, Germany, and Italy in many - 
places subsist to a great extent upon them, is an estab- 
lished fact. ; 
The truffle—an edible underground fungus—is classed 
by Berkeley with sore/, as one of the Ascimycetes, because 
in these, “ spores,” or organs of reproduction, are arranged 
in asci (tubular sacs, or vesicles). The best writers on 
fungi have arrived at this learned conclusion ; but in spite 
of all their discoveries, and their elaborate remarks on 
“spheroidal cells,” and “spores,” and “ fructification 
taking place in some particular membrane,” we believe 
attempts to cultivate the truffle have failed. 
Science has ascertained that it forms an intermediate 
link between the animal and vegetable kingdom, for it 
does not absorb carbonic acid from the air and give out 
oxygen, but, like animals, it absorbs oxygen and gives out 
carbonic acid. 
The truffle is found in many districts of France, Spain, 
and Italy ; and in other parts of these countries, doubtless 
~-(as in England), it exists, though it has not been dis- 
covered. 
In this country it may be found on almost every chalky 
down, especially where plantations of beech flourish, and 
in many gentlemen’s parks, and on lawns. Hampshire, 
Wilts, Dorset, and Kent, all these counties produce truffles 
of rich quality and in great abundance. Beneath the 
beech, the cedar, the lime, the oak, the hazel, the Scotch 
fir, it is frequently to be found in clusters, one, two, or 
three feet apart. It is known to be in Tedworth (the seat 
