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NOTE ON THE OENUS TEBFEZIA ; A TRUFFLE FROM THE 
KALAHARI. 
By I. B. Pole Evans, M.A., B.Sc, F.L.S. 
(With Plate VII.) 
South African truffles belonging to the genus Terfezia are well known. 
Marloth, in his ' Flora of South Africa,' vol. i, p. 26, gives an excellent illus- 
tration of one of these — viz. Terfezia Claveryi, Chatin, and mentions that — 
" Two indigenous species of truffles belonging to the genus Terfezia are 
found in the Kalahari, occurring near shrubs of Acacia hebeclada, generally 
3-4 inches below the surface of the ground. They are much esteemed as an 
article of diet when in season (March- June)." In a footnote on this subject 
Marloth further states : " Terfezia Claveryi and T. Boudieri, both known 
from North Africa and used there under the name ' terfaz.' " 
As truffles belonging to the first-named species have recently been sub- 
mitted to me by Dr. Peringuey, Director of the South African Museum, 
Cape Town, by Dr. Rogers, Director of the Oeological Survey, and by 
Gr. C. Hunter, Esq., of Dunmurry, Floradale, Oriqualand West, a few notes 
on the genus may not be out of place. 
The genus Terfezia was created by Tulasne in 1846 as a result of an 
examination of specimens obtained from Algeria, and which had previously 
been referred to as Oogaster algeriiis, Corda, and Tulasneinia leonis, Zobel. 
The genus at present comprises 28 species, and of these at least 11 occur 
on the African continent. Those recorded from South Africa are : T. Claveryi, 
Chat. ; T. Boudieri, Chat., from the Kalahari and Windhuk ; and T. Pfeilii, 
P. Henn., from Damaraland. 
The genus Terfezia. is readily distinguished from that of Choeromyces by 
possessing broadly ovate or globose asci. In Choeromyces the asci are dis- 
tinctly elongated or lageniform, and arranged in rather simple parallel series. 
The gleba in Terfezia is clearly divided into massula, whereas in Cheer omyces 
they are not conspicuous. 
The plants of Terfezia Claveryi, Chat., which I have seen may be described 
as follows : 
Ascomata of variable size and shape, subglobose or more frequently pyri- 
form, shortly and broadly stipitate, -5-7 cm. by 6-9 cui, broad ; cortex 
