Tuber cibarium.

On the authority of our most distinguished mycologists, the Common Truffle has not yet been discovered within the limits of the United States. It is said to be found abundantly in some parts of Great Britain, particularly in Wiltshire, Kent, and Hampshire. It is collected in large quantities in some portions of France, and is indigenous to other countries of Europe.

The following description by Mascall, in connection with the engraving, will give an accurate idea of its size, form, color, and general character: "The size rarely much exceeds that of a large walnut. Its form is rounded, sometimes kidney-shaped, and rough with protuberances. The surface, when the truffle is young, is whitish; but, in those that are full grown, it is either blackish or a deep-black. The color of the inside is whitish, with dark-blue and white, gray, reddish, light-brown or dark-brown veins, of the thickness of a horse-hair, which are usually variously entangled, and which form a kind of network, or mat. Between the veins are numerous cavities, filled with mucilage, and small, solid grains. These scarcely visible glands were formerly said to be the seeds, or germs, of the young truffles. The less the inside of the Truffle is colored with dark veins, the more tender and delicious is its flesh.

"The blackish, external rind is hard, and very rough, by means of fine fissures, grains, and protuberances; and forms, with its small facets (which are almost hexagonal), an appearance by

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