2 
/•i I ? ■ \ i IW' 
ON UNDEKOROUNt) FUNGI. 
superficial. They belong to several different types; they abound in 
calcareous districts, to which many species are restricted, and only a 
few species can be expected to reward the researches of your local 
Naturalists. In favourable localities, as the neighbourhood of Bath 
and Rockingham Forest, many species are abundant, Wiltshire and 
Kent, and other chalk counties, produce the greater part of what are 
sold in Covent Garden, but, if properly hunted for, there are parts of 
Northamptonshire which could yield, as I know by experience, an 
abundant supply. They, however, in general require a good deal of 
diligence in research, and some tact in selecting the most fertile spots. 
It was at one time doubted whether a single species was indigenous; 
but in “ Morton’s History of Northamptonshire,” published at the 
beginning of the last century, Rushton Wilderness, formerly in posses¬ 
sion of the Tresham family (too well known in history), is mentioned 
as producing them, yet even then it was doubted whether they had 
not been introduced with exotic shrubs ; but now more than forty 
species have been found near Bath, and half that number in 
Northamptonshire. As Truffles are always valuable in the London 
market, though we do not possess the two species which are most 
esteemed abroad, one of which is found, indeed, only in Italy, a 
successful hunt would amply repay the labour of research, and it 
becomes matter of interest to ascertain means by which they may be 
found without waste of time and labour. In a particular parish in 
Northamptonshire they were once so abundant that in a few minutes 
I could collect as many pounds weight of truffles, some of them of 
extraordinary size, but this is only the case in favoured spots. The 
more common way is to train dogs for the purpose, which they answer 
most effectively. In Germany, pigs are sometimes employed, and 
there have been cases in which idiots, who could be employed to no 
other useful purpose, have been found to be first-rate truffle-hunters. 
The dogs belong to a peculiar breed, between a poodle and a turnspit, 
and by hereditary descent acquire an especial faculty. They have been 
trained to such a nicety that Vittadini, who made truffles an especial 
study, and published an excellent work on the subject, and, indeed, 
was one of the first to call attention to their real structure, if he 
wished to get additional specimens of any particular species, had 
merely to show a specimen to his dogs, allowing them to sniff the 
peculiar odour, and they would go off into the woods and bring back 
that species, and that alone. Truffles in that country are a great 
source of gain to poachers, who send their dogs into the proper locali¬ 
ties, who hunt without making the slightest noise, and soon reward 
their contraband masters. The mode of training is very simple. A 
truffle is placed within a hollow ball, which is perforated in every 
direction, and given as a plaything from the earliest age, the dogs thus 
becoming completely familiar with the scent, which is peculiar, and, 
as this is very penetrative, they readily detect the spot beneath which 
a truffle is concealed. But in this country in general the dogs are not 
so completely trained as to be trusted alone, for they are very fond of 
