67 
HIMALAYAN TRUFFLES. 
Some kind of truffle has, for many years, been known to grow 
at the base of the Himalayas, and probably more than one kind, 
yet, strangely enough, none have ever been sent to Europe for 
identification. Year after year we have sent requests to the North 
West Provinces for a specimen or two of the indigenous truffle. 
It was only a few days since that the long-hoped-for parcel made 
its appearance. The natives know the truffle under a native name, 
and they are fully aware of its esculent qualities. It has even been 
stated that they are sold occasionally in the bazaars, but, if so, it 
is remarkable that none were ever sent with the large consignments 
of raw products to the various exhibitions in Europe, from 1851 to 
the present. On this point we can speak with some confidence, 
from our official connection with the Indian Department for above 
a quarter of a century. Through the kindness of Mr. Duthie, of 
Saharunpore, we have seen our first Himalayan truffles, and 
although in books a haphazard guess has been made of the species, 
by calling it either Tuber cestivum or Tuber cibarium , it proves to 
be neither the one nor the other, but more closely allied to the 
French truffle, Tuber melanosporum , but much smaller, and with 
sporidia scarcely more than one-half the size, and, indeed, the 
sporidia are much smaller than in any other of the species with 
aculeate sporidia. 
Under these circumstances we have been compelled to recognize 
the Indian as a distinct species, under the name of Tuber indicum , 
of which a description is annexed. 
The truffles, in the dried condition in which we received them, 
do not exceed an inch in diameter, and many are not half that size. 
They are possibly nearly globose when fresh, but in parting with 
moisture become more or less irregular, depressed, and lobed. The 
outer surface is sooty-black, covered with angular five or six-sided 
warts, smaller than in the common truffle. The interior is blackish, 
with whitish sinuous veins, so that it is irregularly mottled. The 
asci are nearly globose, and appear normally to enclose four 
sporidia. These sporidia are elliptical and brown, densely covered 
with rather long truncate spines, or warts. In this latter feature 
they agree with the sporidia of Tuber melanosporum , but the 
difference in size is very characteristic. We do not recognize any 
particular odour. 
Tuber (Oogaster) indicum, Cke. Sf Mass. 
Globosum, irregulare (plerumque 2-3 c.m. diam.), verrucis 
subhexagonis asperatum, fuligineo-nigrum ; gleba carnosa, nigre- 
scente, venis albidis gyrosis marmorata; ascis subglobosis, 2-4 
sporis ; sporidiis ellipsoideis, dense longeque aculeatis, minimis, 
brunneis (15-18 x 10-12 //,), aculeis apicem truncatis. 
In the ground. Mussooree., N.W. Himalayas. ( Duthie .) 
