31 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. III. 



collected into a large tin bottle made flat on one side and 

 furnished with straps to fix on to a man's back. A de- 

 coction is made from another liana (Calowjction spcci- 

 osum), and this on being added to the milk, in the pro- 

 portion of one pint to a gallon, coagulates it to rubber, 

 which is made into round flat cakes. A large tree, five 

 feet in diameter, will yield when first cut about twenty 

 gallons of milk, each gallon of which makes two and a 

 half pounds of rubber. I was told that the tree recovers 

 from the wounds and may be cut again after the lapse of 

 a few months ; but several that I saw were killed through 

 the large Harlequin beetle (Acroeinus longimanus) laying 

 its eggs in the cuts, and the grubs that are hatched boring- 

 great holes all through the trunk. When these grubs 

 are at work you can hear their rasping by standing at 

 the bottom of the tree, and the wood-dust thrown out of 

 their burrows accumulates in heaps on the ground below. 

 The Government attempts no supervision of the forests : 

 anyone may cut the trees, and great destruction is going 

 on amongst them through the young ones being tapped 

 as well as the full- crown ones. The tree crrows very 



o o */ 



quickly, and plantations of it might easily be made, which 

 would in the course of ten or twelve years become highly 

 remunerative. 



We left Castillo at daylight the next morning, and 

 continued our journey up the river. There was but 

 little change in its banks. We saw many tall graceful 

 palms and tree ferns, but most of the trees were dicoty- 

 ledons. Amongst these the mahogany (Sicictoma maJio- 

 fjnni} and the cedar (Cedrcla odorata) are now rare near 

 the river, but a few trees were pointed out to me. High 

 up in one tree, underneath which we passed, were seated 



