141 
3. I wrote to Mr. Thomson in the sense of parag raph 5 of my 
letter of July Sth, 1889. I agreed to pay him £5 for botanical 
specimens adequate for the determination of the tree and for a 
upply of seeds for experimental cultivation. This letter 
e 
owever, which he has supplied to us as to the tree which he 
affirms S oe Colombia Virgen, we believe it to be Sapium 
biglandulos 
As the species "-— this genus are known to yield a milky juice 
and it belongs to a family, Euphorbiacewe, which includes the 
plants yielding Para and Ceara rubber, the identification is 
probable accurate. The seeds furnished by Mr. Thomson failed to 
germinate. 
4, I still remain of the opinion expressed in paragraph 2 of my 
letter of July 8th, that the slender results which have ed 
from the large outlay incurred by the Government of India 
introducing South American buo webbed plants into that country 
are not such as to justify any further present expenditure in the 
matter. As I pointed out in paragraph 4, on high level land 
1 
tion are e likely to prove crga in my opinion it may well 
be left to private enterprise. 
5. I propose = embody the information which I have eee ad 
in a note for the Kew Bulletin. This will doubtless have 
effect of eter “the attention of arog planters to the sabes? 
_ Tam, ete., 
(Signed) W. T. THISELTON-DYER. 
J. A. Piers e C.B., 
India Office 
XXIX.—LAGOS RUBBER. 
(Ficus Vogelii, Miq.) 
[K. B., 1888, pp. 253-261.] 
The investigation of plants AIT to yield ics caoutchoue of 
carried in opical Africa by 
numerous correspondents a Fe Pam Possibly T4 = other part of 
the world is there such a wide field for investigation of this kind, 
and in recent years a considerable trade in india-rubber has arisen 
through the exertions of officials and traders who have given 
attention to the subject. 
A useful summary of information respecting West African 
E is given by Captain Moloney in the Forest 
ru 
These are climbing shrubs with stems 4 to 6 inches in diameter 
near the ground, but dividing above into numerous branches which 
support ee on the neighbouring trees. The rubber of the 
Gold Coast, wn in commerce as Accra rubber, is the produce 
of Md. owariensis, Beauv. This is probably the best 
