226 
ii. p. 60), based on a specimen collected in the Province of Minas 
Geraes, Brazil, by Libon. I have not seen it, though from the 
two-leaved pseudobulbs and other characters I believe a plant 
collected by Dr. Stephen -and gen ved at Kew to be identical. 
The locality is given as “Sao Joao d’El Rey, 3500-5500 ft., Prov. 
Minas Geraes.” The colour is fot recone but the flowers appear 
to have been purple in the living stat 
It is quite clear that Laelia snes Lindl. " is —— from 
L. flava, Lindl, but the history of the former is still imperfect. 
The original specimen is taller than those subsequently iedhicised, 
being over two feet high, with the leaf five inches long and the 
scape bearing as ma ny as twelve flowers. There is no note of 
their colour. Lindley’s remark that the lip is destitute of eleva- 
tions is abr nae as was pointed out by Reichenbach. There are 
other Brazilian species from the same region with small flowers 
and. a saial crisped lip, but none that appear to have been confused 
with ZL. caulescens. It would be interesting if someone woulc 
re-collect these plants, paying particular attention to the conditions 
under which they grow and the colour of the flowers. 
XXXVIIL—PARA RUBBER. 
(Hevea brasiliensis.) 
The following correspondence relating to the variety of Hevea 
brasiliensis planted in the Orient has passed between the Director of 
ulture, Federated Malay States, and the Director of the Royal 
Bocanie Gardens, Kew :— 
Kuala Lumpur, 
Ist April, 1913. 
SIR, ° 
rt by the Brazilian Commission on the Rubber 
ee Nae the statement is made that the rubber planted in the Orient is 
almost entirely from seed of a “ white” variety of Hevea brasiliensis 
(?), which like the “ mad ” variety produces weak rubber, while the 
est rubber is produced by a so-called “black ” variety, this 
growing on higher and drier land than the others. 
It does not seem at all probable that the statement is correct, but 
I should be greatly obliged if you could give me any information 
from the botanical side which would tend either to support or 
diseredit a statement which is calculated to cause a certain amount 
of uneasiness among those interested in Eastern plantation rubber. 
Ian, &c., 
L. Lewron Bratn, 
Director of Agriculture, 
