'I'ho  llovvers  I have  not  seen  hut  the  Iruit  spray  is  very  large  and 
stout  several  leet  long  with  long  branches,  the  spathes  armed  with 
very  short  sharp  thorns  ^^■ith  swollen  bases,  d'he  fruit  is  oblong  i 
an  inch  long,  shortly  beaked  yellow  with  about  14  rows  of  rather 
small  scales,  longer  than  broad  grooved  down  the  centre,  yellow  with 
a slightly  darker  edge.  The  fruit  is  pedicelled  by  the  rather  large 
cylindric  broad  based  calyx. 
I suppose  this  is  Blume’s  C.  coesius,  which  was  collected  at  fir^t 
in  Borneo,  but  of  which  he  only  saw  a leaf.  He  mentions  that  the 
traders  esteem  it  as  a rattan  and  says  it  is  called  in  Borneo  Rotan 
Latong  and  andjan-jan. 
Rotan  Batu,  Calamus  insi^riis  is  another  very  slender  rattan 
which  is  much  sought  by  rattan  collectors.  The  stems  are  not 
more  than  half  an  inch  through,  and  fifty  or  sixty  feet  long,  light 
green,  and  sometimes  marbled  with  bars  of  grey  when  young.  The 
sheaths  bear  long  thorny  flagella.  The  leaves  are  about  two  feet 
long,  with  a long  thorny  leaf-stalk  and  usually  2 pairs  of  broad 
oblong  lanceolate  leaflets  8 inches  long  2\  inches  wide,  but  there 
are  often  more  leaflets.  The  leaf-stalk  is  not  swollen  at  the  base 
where  it  leaves  the  sheath,  but  above  it  is  a distinct  brown  lanceo- 
late ligule.  The  upper  pair  of  leaflets  are  joined  at  the  base.  All 
are  bright  green.  There  is  often  a flagellum  from  between  the 
two  upper  leaflets.  The  flowers  seem  never  to  have  been  met  with. 
This  rattan  occurs  in  woods  all  over  the  Peninsula  and  is  espe- 
cially valued  for  tying  fishing  stakes  and  such  like  work. 
Rotan  Lilin  Calamus  javensis  is  another  of  the  slender  rattans 
of  the  same  style  as  the  i'-otan  Segar.  1 he  stems  are  twenty  or 
thirty  feet  long  green  and  armed  with  short  sharp  thorns. 
The  leaves  about  a foot  long  bear  broadly  lanceolate  acute  leaf- 
lets 6 inches  long  and  1-2  inches  wide  in  gasciles  of  two  or  three 
together,  or  solitary  about  7 to  J3  to  a leaf,  green,  or  in  the  hills 
purplish,  on  both  sides,  the  lowest  pair  of  leaves  are  deflexed  over 
the  stem  as  if  clasping  it.  d he  upper  leaves  en  1 in  long  very  slen- 
der flagella,  d he  flower  sprays  are  very  long  and  slender  with  only 
a few  spikes  of  flowers  at  the  end  of  the  long  peduncle. 
This  rattan  is  common  in  our  woods,  and  is  known  by  the  names 
Rotan  Sindek  and  Rotan  Tungul  besides  Rotan  Lilin.  ddie  rattan 
as  prepared  is  smooth  and  white  of  an  inch  through  with  incon- 
spicuous points  some  inches  apart,  so  that  it  is  very  suitable  for 
basket  work. 
'I'o  be  continued. 
FUNTUMIA  ELASTICA. 
ddie  following  notes  on  the  Silk  Rubber  of  Lagos  are  taken  from 
an  article  by  M.  E.  De  Wil. DEMAN  published  in  the  Revue  des 
Cultures  Coloniales. 
The  plant  is  specially  cultivated  at  present  in  Western  Africa  in 
the  Congo  PTee  State  and  on  the  Cameroons,  and  is  according  to 
the  author  the  best  rubber  plant  to  cultivate  in  these  regions,  and 
