165 
from this tree recently received from Fiji was hard and gutta-like 
and without elasticity. In the condition in which it reached this 
country it was of little or no Laion value 
The most pde yup rubber plant met witk by Mr. Horne 
was A/stonic Labill. ; of this possibly, A. villosa, Seemann, 
is a hairy form. The ed, given of this tree is as follows :— 
“The Fijian name" says Mr. Horne “is * Drega quruquru.' 
They collect the juice in their mouths, which makes the 
caoutchouc as adhesive as glue, and of about the consistency an nd 
colour of putty. To get the juice, the Fijians break off the leaves 
from the branches, and collect it as it flows from the posicion. and 
the wounds on the branches heres by the breaking off of the 
leaves. The branches are next broken off the trees, E each 
branch is broken up into pieces ee 6 inches to a foot lo 
* As fast as the pieces are broken, first one end of them is oe 
in the mouth, then the other, till the mouth is full of crude 
caoutchouc. Several mouthfuls are collected together an 
squeezed into a round mass or ball. This method of collecting 
the juice, with the ruthless manner of eeh the trees, some- 
what surprised me when I first saw it done. Since then repeated 
branches. The youngest branches of the tree contain most juice. 
When the old or firm-wooded branches are broken very little sap 
flows from them. When the young branches are broken the sap 
flows rapidly for a few seconds. It soon coagulates when exposed 
to the air, and the wound has to be freshened to cause the sap 
to flow anew. When the branches are broken into pieces of 
about a foot in length the juice flows from the ends and the 
pieces are drained almost entirely. A little more may be obtained 
by breaking the pieces in the middle, but very little. The juice 
flows from between the bark and the "wood, and from the pith, or 
from between the pith and the henas 
The caoutchouc may nt to market in balls, or it ma 
pressed in moulds into ond thin pieces, ge or € inches broad 
ma an iinch. in thickness (more r les uired. 
d — was done in regard to Fiji is soa last 
year, = in response to an inquiry ' from o 
made to obtain botanical specimens of all er than ird 
a milky juice, 
