Monograph of the Truffles

and serve the nutrition of the sporidia while they still adhere to the mother (umbilical cords). Some Tuberaceae are adorned with a flocculose-furfuraceous crust, following the norm of Elaphomyces (Genea bombycina, Hysterangium clathroides, etc.); nor do the tufts, which envelop the entire surface of almost all Hymenogastreae and young truffles possessing a smooth rind, depart much from the nature of this crust. If not all Tuberaceae show these tufts, I believe this should be attributed to the emission of roots—at least in those that are rooted—and also to their premature disappearance. In truth, Genea verrucosa and papillosa, provided with roots, are soon denuded of tufts, while Genea bombycina, being rootless, is everywhere covered with a persistent flocculose crust. Hysterangium membranaceum, being rooted, is found nearly bare, while Hysterangium clathroides, being rootless, is gathered covered with very copious tufts. Finally, in truffles, the disappearance of the tufts depends mainly on the hardness of the rind; and since truffles are generally dug from the soil only when mature, this is a sufficient reason why those provided with a softer rind also generally appear denuded. Add to this the ease of denuding them while they are extracted from the earth, even if immature, because of the thinness of the tufts and their connection with the soil. This also happens with the volva of fungi, which, although it may be present in almost all fungi—as Micheli (27) already warned (for the volva can be compared with the crust of Elaphomyces regarding its origin and use)—nevertheless, according to the varying nature of the volva itself, it sometimes disappears quickly, sometimes fades away along with the fungus.

From all of which it is permissible to conclude that the sporidia of truffles, during germination, conform entirely with those of Elaphomyces, and that the tufts with which they are covered, just as is the case with the cotyledons of phanerogams flowering plants, provide the first nourishment to the germinating tuberule until it is able to draw it from the humus by itself. Bischoff (28) saw this happen in the germinating sporidia of Equisetum palustre. Nor do the cotyledons of mosses, observed by Hedwig, differ entirely from this nature of the tufts; and certainly, according to the newest observations of Ehrenberg on the germination of sporidia (29), the Carcytes nekerii of fungi (the "blanc de champignon" mushroom spawn (30)), and all fungi, if I am not mistaken, that have been described to date by mycologists as imperfect (aspore-less), represent the germinating sporidia of perfect fungi.