10 
TRUFFLES IN SHROPSHIRE. 
TRUFFLES IN SHROPSHIRE. 
BY W. PHILLIPS, F.L.S. 
As the interesting article on “ Underground Fungi,” by our great 
mycologist the Kev. M. J. Berkeley, at page 1 of this volume of the 
“ Midland Naturalist,” cannot fail to awaken the interest of local 
botanists in the question of their existence in the Midlands, I will 
give a brief report of what has been done in searching for them in 
Shropshire. The prevalence of lime in the southern half of the 
county would lead one to expect an abundant variety of species; 
but as far as I know at present, the common Truffle {Tuber cestivum, 
Vitt.) has never been offered for sale in any market except Bridgnorth, 
and no species, except some found by myself, have ever been recorded. 
Inquiries set on foot to ascertain from where the person obtained 
the specimens offered in Bridgnorth market, were unsuccessful; but 
it is believed they were from the immediate neighbourhood of that 
town. Eleven years ago, while searching the charcoal beds of the 
Wrekin with a view of noting the fungi frequenting them, I found in 
a narrow avenue on the west side of the hill a solitary specimen of 
Ilijdnotria Tiilamii, B. and Br., measuring three and a half inches in 
circumference. A small portion of its surface appeared above the 
friable burnt soil in which it was growing, and looked both in colour 
and size not unlike a small potato. I have searched this same spot 
nearly every year since without being able to find another specimen : 
this capricious appearance and disappearance, however, is a common 
subject of remark in all practical works on Truffle growing. As the 
burning down of plantations is frequently found in France and Italy to 
be followed by an appearance of the highly-prized Tuber melanoeporum, 
my success might have been due to the operations of the charcoal 
burners, and suggests the more careful examination of these beds. 
In 1875 the Eev. W. Houghton sent me ample specimens of the 
white Truffle {Ghoiromyces iiieuiidriformis, Vitt.), collected at Lilleshall, 
the seat of the Duke of Sutherland. Some of these measured as 
much as II inches in circumference, and the remarkably spinous 
sporidia formed striking objects under the microscope. Vittadini calls 
this species rare. 
The two kinds of Truffles named above are the only edible species 
hitherto discovered in this county, but several others of much scientific 
interest have occurred. Elaphoimjces variegatus, Vitt., was found in 1878 
in woods near the Wrekin and again this last autumn, in company 
with my friend Mr. C. B. Plowright, of King’s Lynn, who has been 
very successful in finding many British species ; this same species was 
found on the Ercall Hill in considerable quantity, and many of the 
individuals were attacked by the peculiar parasite, Turrubia ophioglos- 
soides, Tub, which thrusts its head above the moss in which the 
Elaphomyces lies buiied, and might easily have been passed over for one 
