ii Proceedings. {October 2nd, ipod. 



"Reports to the Evolution Committee" Hi. (8vc, London, 1906), 

 presented by the Royal Society ; " The Bristol Museum and Art 

 Gallery ...iy/2-igo6" by W. R. Barker (8vo., Bristol, 1906), 

 presented by the Committee of the Bristol Museum; "India" 

 by P. Loti, transl. by Dr. G. A. F. Inman (8vo., London, [1906]), 

 presented by Mr. Ben Walmsley ; " Antiquities of the Jemez 

 Plateau, New Mexico" by E. L. Hewett (8vo, Washington, 1906), 

 presented by the Bureau of American Ethnology; '' The Argu- 

 ment, a priori, jor the Being and the Attributes of the Lord God, 

 the Absolute One, and First Cause" by W. H. Gillespie, 6th ed. 

 (8vo., Edinburgh, 1906), presented by the Trustees of Mrs. H. 

 Gillespie. 



Professor F. E. Weiss, D.Sc, F.L.S., read the following 

 paper, entitled " Gutta percha from a Chinese Tree 



{Eucommia ulmoides Oliver)." 



With the increasing use of indiarubber and gutta-percha in 

 various industries, it seems important to draw attention to plants 

 capable of yielding these valuable vegetable products, which 

 are not as yet being used as sources. 



To these belongs the Chinese Tree {Eucommia ulmoidesOYw.), 

 of which Dr. A. Henry sent some specimens to Kew about the 

 year 1890. According to Dr. Henry's account, the tree was 

 highly valued on account of the medicinal qualities of its bark, 

 and largely cultivated in China. It appears to be a native of 

 the mountainous districts of Hupeh and Szechuan. This plant, 

 which up to that time was unknown to botanists, was described 

 by Prof. D. Oliver ('QO) as Eucommia ulmoides, and the material at 

 his disposal being somewhat fragmentary the plant was pro- 

 visionally placed by him in the tribe Phyllantheae of the Natural 

 Order Euphorbiaceae. An examination of flowering specimens 

 which arrived some years later (1894) from China caused its 

 transference to the Trochodendraceae,* a small family of plants, 

 containing only four genera, all of Asiatic origin. 



* See Engler & Prantl, " Natiirliche PflanzenfamilieD, Nachtrag," p, 159. 

 1897. 



