180 
XXXVIIL—PERUVIAN RUBBER. 
[K.B., 1899, pp. 68-72.] 
Up to the present time little or nothing has been known 
botanically with respect to Peruvian rubber. Our knowledge, 
“There comes ion Peru, at the sources of the Amazon and its 
tributaries, a rubber resembling the Nicaragua Sheet, and called 
Cau v 
much, which is a serious drawback. It is considered a goo 
Strong rubber, and it is utilised to a considerable extent by the 
boot and shoe manufacturers.' 
The following correspondence iren the first information as 
to the aetual source of Peruvian rubber 
FOREIGN OFFICE to ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 
e Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs presents his 
aiala to the Director of the Royal. Gardens, Kew, and i 
Eon known as “ Caucho. 
Foreign Office, 
May 17, 1899. 
MR. CONSUL CHURCHILL to FOREIGN OFFICE. 
Her Majesty's — Pará, 
My Lorp, ril 28, 1899. 
Ir may interest those concerned to uc pus the E 
which produces the quality of India-rubber exported from Per 
through Pará, under the name of Caucho, has recently ien dolor. 
mined by Monsieur Mee à botanist, who is on the scientific 
staff of the Museum of Pará 
Monsieur Ser lately visited = pa ayali region in Peru, and 
discovered that the tree was a Casti 
He will mios be able to deci = s comparison, whether it is 
the same as the Castilloa elastica of Central Am merica, or a species 
of the same genus. It had been surmised vinis cal s as the 
s the 
first authority who has settled the point. With this E knosdodee 
it results that the distribution oe e Castilloa is wider than 
was previously thought to be the 
“Caucho” is also produced in the neighbourhood of v 
Bolivian tributaries of the: River Amazon, and from parts 
the said tributaries that pass through Brazilian territory. 
