16 
Messrs. HECHT, LEVIS. AND KAHN to ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 
21, Mincing Lane, London, E.C. 
Tth February, 1893. 
DEAR SIR 
We have received your yesterday’s letter, and also the sample of 
Ceylon rubber which you have sent to us. The quality of this 
rubber is very good indeed, and the curing of the same seems to 
have been effected in the proper manner. This quality would be 
easily saleable, and we estimate its value to-day as being about 
= 3d. to a ies per lb., according to whether the rubber would 
be dry or It would be easily saleable in large quantities. 
We Stan n the sample to you, according to your desire. 
We remain, &c., 
(Signed) HECHT, LEVIS AND KAHN. 
John R. Jacksoh, Esq., 
Royal Gardens, Kew. 
XXIIL—PARA RUBBER. 
(Hevea brasiliensis, Muell. Arg.) 
[ K.B., 1898, pp. 241-277.] 
What is known as the Para rubber of commerce is obtained 
from the pe region drained by the Amazon and its tributaries 
estimated to embrace a territory nearly two-thirds the size of 
urope. 
The plants yielding Para rubber consist of several species of 
Hevea belonging to the natural order Euphorbiaceae, familiarly 
known as Spurges 
We owe the first authentic account of the plants of this genus 
to M. de la Condamine, the leader of the French expedition sent 
ont in 1773 to measure an are of the meridian near Quito. The 
ree was known in the Andean region as * Heve” or * Jeve,” but 
according to Spruce this name is also applied to Castilloa Sope 
and to Siphocampylus Caoutchouc. In the Amazon valley it 
called “ Cahuchu,” probably the origin of the Gerd (lo year 
The Portuguese, in Brazil, call the rubber * Seringa," and the 
native collectors s 'Slerindetirod " The tree is * Pao de Seringa." 
names suggest that the syringe was one of the earliest uses 
to which indis-rubber was locally mi ed. 
other part of the world. In the present "vs of our povera 
d 
CE a review of the species of Hevea by Mr. W. B. Hemsley, i in 
Hooker's cones Plantarum, figures are given of Hevea spruceana, | 
Muell. Arg. (t. 2570), found in North Brazil, and of H. ben- 
thamiana, Muell. Arg. (t. 257 D, collected by Spruce on the 
