139 
ornaments being composed of it . The people of the 
western tribe of Torres Straits, who ‘in their customs greatly 
resemble the Andamanese, make a similar use of o decis bark ; 
“Serene are p in the British Museum. (See a paper by 
Professor A. C. Had the Journal of the ee ee 
an, November 96. 1889, pp. 385, 386)." 
New Products from the Upper Congo—Through the kindness 
of M. Emile Laurent, Professor of Botany at the State eue of 
Agriculture, Gembloux, en the Kew Museum has received 
an interesting series of s mples of caoutchoue obtained ‘tro 
species of Landolphia ictus in the Belgian possessions on the 
Upper Congo. Several of the forms in which they are propasel 
are such as are not seen in English commerce, and one sample, 
prepared in block form is of remarkably fine uality, being 
singularly free from impurities, and equalling in appearance fine 
Para rubber 
In a note accompanying the samples Professor Laurent says 
that the juice of Costus lucanasianus is used to coagulate the 
rubber. Accompanying these specimens is also a section of a 
stem of a new iion yielding tree with the resin in situ, together 
with some separate lumps. In appearance this resin comes 
nearest to that of Inhambane copal from Copaifera gorskiana, 
Benth., samples E bind were received and reported upon by 
Messrs. R. Ingham, Clark & Co., in 1888 (Kew Bulletin, 1888, 
pp. 281-83). It "y has some resemblance to Ogea gum, the 
produce of a tree of the Gold Coast, and supposed to be a species 
of Daniellia 
The Meer yielding this newly discovered copal from the Congo 
has been named Trachylobium dewevrianum. 
A sample of this new copal has been submitted to Messrs 
Ingham, Clark & Co., who report upon it, under date August 10th, 
1897, as follows :— 
“We have had the ur of u enis at the works. In 
appearance it resembles Accra, but we think it a very recent gum. 
It has a melting point of "about 300°- 330°, ignites very freely 
under heat, and is extremely ‘stringy’ when melting, which is 
not a good point, and in this respect it resembles soft Manila. 
“ We attribute it, however, to the sample being, as we say, o 
recent exudation, and probably much older and harder qualities 
can be found below the surface of the groun 
“The commercial value would be about £40 per ton. It is, 
however, impossible to judge the value of a ‘find’ of this kind 
without having a considerable bulk sample.’ 
Hibiscus lunariifolius.— In a toe to the Secretary d State, 
dated Feb. 25, 1899, Mr. Low, the Acting Governor of the Gold 
re stated that the Onde of the Botanic Station was “ tesi ng 
e specimens of a fibre which he has procured from a long 
twig-like tree by soaking the twigs in water and then removing 
the outer covering.” He added :—“ He will prepare and take 
