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What confirms the opiHion ofi^heir coming- from feed is, 

 that there have been truffles difcovered in England, and thic, 

 at firft, only in Northamptonfliire, and even only in one 

 place of it, ix'z. Rufhton, a place (locked with trees for- 

 merly brought from Languedoc ; and it is only fmce then, 

 that any truffles have been there obferved ; whence it is con- 

 cluded, that the feed of thefe truffles was brought from 

 France among the roots of the trees brought thence. 



Thefe EngUih truffles were firft difcovered by Dr. Hat- 

 ton. Dr. Tancred Robinfon affurcs us, they are the true 

 French truffles, the Italian tartuffi, or tartufck, and the 

 Spaniih turmos de ticra, being not before noted by Mr. Ray 

 as ever known on Enghlh ground : indeed he adds, that he 

 has feen them thrice as large at Florence, Rome, &c. 



Thofe obferved in England are all included in a ftudded 

 bark or coat, and the inner fubftancc is of the confiftence of 

 the fleffly part of a young chefnut, of a pafte-colour, a rank 

 or hircine fmell, and unfavoury. 



When the truffles are arrived at fuch a degree of maturity 

 as to yield feeds, which is generally in Auguft, they are of a 

 fine high flavour and agreeable fm.ell ; and the heat and rains 

 at this feafon greatly promoting their growth, has been the 

 occafion of the old error, that thunder produced them ; 

 after this they continue good till the middle of winter, and 

 fometimes even till March ; but thofe gathered from this 

 time till the end of July are fmall, and only white, never 

 marbled, nor of their high tafte. 



If the truffles are not taken up when fully ripe, they 

 always rot and burft ; whence it is plain, that they are an 

 annual plant, which lives no longer than til! they have per- 

 fefted their feeds. And if the place where the old ones 

 have rotted and burft be examined, the feeds will be 

 foufld after fome time to have vegetated, and a great number 

 of young truffles to be produced in the place : thefe, if not 

 deftroyed by the frofts, are what in the enfuing fpring furnifh 

 the younger white truffles. 



The truffle is very apt to be pierced and eaten within by 

 a worm, and this, though a damage to the particular truffle, 

 is of fome fervice to the people who make it their bufinefs 

 to feek for them : for this worm, after a proper time pafled 

 in that ftate, changes into a chryfalis ftate in the body of the 

 truffle ; whence he foon after comes out, in the fliape of a 

 beautiful violet-coloured fly ; and wherever thefe flies are 

 found, they are an indication that there are beds of truffles 

 near, as they are never bred in any other root. 



Thefe communicate a bitternefs to the whole truffle, and 

 make it unfit for the table ; though if the whole be care- 

 fully fearched into, the part eaten by the worm, and the 

 hole by which it made its way in, will be found to be in 

 reality the only bitter parts, and the reft of the truffle, when 

 thefe are cut out, as good as ever : but, befides thefe de- 

 ftroyers, the microfcope ufually difcovers on the furface of 

 the truffle a multitude of other devourers, which are fmall 

 animalcules, continually eating, and iearching the cracks of 

 the bark, as the places where the pulp is moft eafily come 

 at ; thefe fomewhat refemble mites. 



The earth that produces truffles rarely affords any other 

 plants, thefe taking up all the nourifhment it can afford : 

 the earth all about them fmells fo very ftrongly of them, that 

 they are eafily found out by it, by the animals which carry 

 their nofes near the ground : and thofe who fought after 

 them foon found the way of ufing hogs to fearch them out ; 

 but thefe being a fort of unmanageable animals, dogs were 

 found which would fupply their place with more certainty, 

 and much lefs trouble. Mem. Acad. Scien. Paris, an. 

 1711. 

 By a chemical analyfis, truffles arc found to abound in a 

 Vol. XXXVI. 



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volatile alkali fait, mixed with oil, upon which their fmcll, 

 &c. depend. They never rife out of the ground, but ar- 

 found, ufually, half a foot beneath the furface of it. 



Dr. Hatton has obferved feveral little fibres ilfuingoutof 

 fome truffles, and infinuating themfelves within the foil, which, 

 in all probabihty, do the office of roots. The truffles grow 

 tolerably globular, as receiving their nourifhment all around 

 them ; which they fuck in through the pores of their bark 

 or rind. 



They are tendereft and beft in the fpring, though eafieil 

 found in autumn ; the wet fwelling them, and the thunder 

 and lightning difpofing them to fend forth their fcent, fo 

 alluring to the fwine : hence fome of the ancients called them 

 ceraunia, q. d. thunder-roots. 



The ancients were exceedingly divided as to the ufe of 

 truffles ; fome affirming them to be wholefome food, and 

 others pernicious : Avicenna, particularly, will have them 

 to caufe apoplexies. For my own part, fays M. Lemery, 

 I am of opinion, they have both good and evil effedla : 

 they reftore and ftrengthentheftomach, promote the femen, 

 &c.; but when ufed too freely, they attenuate and divide the 

 juices immoderately, and, by fome volatile and exalted prin- 

 ciples, occafion great fermentations, &c. though the pepper 

 and fait, with which they are ordinarily eaten, do doubtlefs 

 contribute greatly to thofe effefts : their rich tafte is owing 

 to their not putting forth any ftalk ; in effeft, their princi- 

 ples being united, and, as it were, concentred into a little 

 bulb, muft yield a richer and more delicious flavour than if 

 the juices were difperfed by vegetation through the feveral 

 parts of the common plant. Some roaft truffles under afhes ; 

 and others mix them in fauces. 



In Italy, France, England, &c. they eat them as a great 

 dainty, either in fried flices, with oil, fait, and pepper, or 

 boiled thoroughly in their own broth. The hogs are ex- 

 ceedingly fond of them, and are frequently the means of dif- 

 covering the places where they are ; whence the common 

 people call ihem fzuine-liread. See MiSY and Udnon. 



Tkvvfle- [Forms, a fpecies of fly-worm which is found 

 in truffles, and lives in and feeds on them, till the time it 

 undergoes the common metamorphofis of thefe creatures, 

 for the produftion of a fly, like that from the egg of which 

 it was hatched. 



They are very fmall, and have two brown fpots, eafily 

 diftinguifliable near their hinder end, which are the two pof- 

 terior ftigmata. They are all over white, and very tranf- 

 parent ; and one may very eafily diftinguifli the two black 

 ftocks of their two hooks, with which they tear the fub- 

 ftance of the truffle, as the other fpecies do their food : 

 when they have arrived at their full growth, which is ufually 

 m a few days, then they leave the truffle, and go to feck 

 fome proper place, where they may reft during the time of 

 their transformation ; they enter the earth for this purpofe, 

 and twelve hours after they have gone into it they arc tranf- 

 formed into an egg-fhaped fliell, of a chefnut -brown, of the 

 fame fort with that of the blue flefh-fly. 



Thefe are the worms in a manner peculiar to the truffles ; 

 but, befide thefe, they often furnifli nourilhment to another 

 fpecies, very common in mufhrooms of the ordinary eatable 

 kind, and which has a yellow body, and a black cruftaceous 

 head. Reaumur's Hift. Inf. vol. iv. p. 374. 



TRUFTLORN, in Geography, a town of Bavaria; 

 13 miles S.S.W. of Vilfliofen. 



TRUG, or Trug-Corn, Truga Frumenti, m our M- 



cicnt CuRonu, denotes a meafure of wheat. " Tres truff 



frumenti vel avens faciunt two bufliels, inter prabendum dc 



Hundcrton ccclefia Heref." MS.de Temp. E. III. 



At Lempfter, the vicar has trug^torn allowed him tor 



'^ X X olhciating 



