200 
Beauvis, Contr. Gutta-Percha 60, t. 1), which appears d be a 
source of one of the inferior qualities met with in commer As 
the LU og appears difficult of access in Europe, I qud his 
remarks 
“ This tree furnishes a large quantity of a milky juice, which 
yields a ene of inferior quality, judging from experiments made 
by experts in Paris. It must be remarked, however, that the 
sample experimented on was obtained by the defective method 
used by the Cambodians in the manufacture of torches and had 
become resinous. The Cambodians sell it to the Chinese, who 
export it to Singapore, where it is sold as an inferior kind of 
gutta. The product, in fact, en varies in its texture 
according to its mode of preparation. milky juice left to 
itself and adii yields a whitish atendido which is not 
resinous nor glutinous. 'The absence of the last character is an 
essential por of good gutta. When on the contrary the milk 
is coagu ulated with hot water, it hasa glutinous texture highly 
injurious to its commercial value. In this state it is useless, 
except to mix with gutta of better quality. To prepare it properly 
it should be pour ured into earthern vessels and allowed to slowly 
evaporate without the application of any artificial heat. The 
process is slow, but it is that which is varta in Malaya in the 
od esee ted of the best sorts of gutta." (p. 227 
M. Pierre very obligingly nie. a specimen of his 
Cochin China plant to the Kew Herbariu Mr. C. B. Clarke 
remarks upon it :—“ Seems very near a icles I have made, 
* Dichopsis Helferi, on a Tenasserim tree, of which the fruit is 
* not known. The leaves do not quite match either in shape or 
* in number of nerves, nor are the sepals exactly the same. They 
* may be one tree nevertheless.” 
Rattan Industry of Rheims.—The following account is extracted 
= om the iren States Consular Reports for January, 1898. The 
f and rattans is to some extent displacing that of 
villows for Bat work. The suggestion has been made that the 
species of Calamus which yield rattans and canes might be intro- 
duced into the forests E. Vix dE ee Africa, where a few species of 
the genus already occu 
* Rattan is the name em to more than one hundred species of 
climbing eer of the genus Calamus, natives of. inter-tropical 
Asia and Africa, most ir “all of which are perennial, simple or — x 
unbranched, oyna jointed, very tough and strong, from the 
size of a goose quill to the size of the human wrist, and from 50 to 
100 feet in length. 
In the regions where it grows wild, rattan renders forests in- 
accessible by reason of its long, tough, and thorny stems, running 
from tree to tree and on the ground. "These stems are used in the 
manufacture of numerous articles, the principal among which are 
riding sticks, cables, and very strong ropes, and when split in 
thin strips, are used for making seats of chairs, baskets, withes | 
: and thongs, and all sorts of wicker ware. ; 
