THE TROPICAL AGEICULTUEIST. [Jan. 1, 1900. 
135 men: an average of 6-4 pishi per head. At Dunga 
our average was much less by reason of their being 
fewer cloves; besides having to visit more trees the 
people never became so expert. Our best picker brought 
6 and 7 pisbi, while our average was between 3 and 4 
pishi per diem. 
(To he eoniinued,) 
THE "CAUCHO" KUBBEU OF PERU. 
A published report from H. M. Consul at Para 
states that the tree which produces the quality of 
india-rubber exported from Peru, through Para, under 
the name of caucho, has recently been determined 
by M. Huber, a botanist,, who is on the Bcientific 
Btaff of the Museum of Para. 
M. Huber lately visited the Ucayli region in Peru, 
and discovered that the tree was a castilloa, and will 
Bhortly be able to decide by comparison whether it 
is the same as the castilloa elastica of Osntral 
America, or a variety of the same genus. 
It has been surmised previously that the tree 
might be a castilloa, but it is said that M. Huber 
is the first authority who has settled the point. 
With this knowledge it results that the distribution 
of the castilloa is winder than was previously thought 
to be the case. 
Caucho is produced in the neighbourhood of the 
Bolivian tributaries of the river Amazon, and from 
parts near the said tributaries that pass through Bra- 
zilian territory. 
A sample of cancTto exists in the Para Museum 
that came from the banks of the River Tocantins. 
It is said that caucho is also produced n«ar Macapo 
and Mazagao, on the north bank of the River Amazon, 
near its estuary. 
A recent statistical return on the exports of the 
State of Para shows that this produce was exported 
in small quantities (altogether about 10 tons^ from 
Aveiroa (River Tapajos), Santarom, Alemquer and 
Obidos, on the River Amazon. 
The total shipments of caucho from Amazonian 
ports amount to about 2,000 tons annually. M. Huber 
describes the process of tapping as follows: — 
The trunk is almost severed in two at a distsnce 
of about 3 feet from the ground, and the tree is 
allowed to fall in such a manner that it is supported 
in an inclined position by its branches, and still 
holds on the part that remains standing. The sap 
is collected and poured into a hole made in the 
ground, and is coagulated by means of the juice of 
certain local lianas. The natives state that this is 
the best method of tapping, and that if the trees 
were treated in the same manner as the heveas they 
would soon be destroyed by insects, which would at- 
tack them where the bark woul i be injured by in- 
cision. This may be only an excuse for unnecessary 
destruction, which might be avoided. However, it 
must be considered that as these trees grow far apart 
from each other in their native state it must be in- 
convenient, if not impossible, to attend to more than 
one tree at a time. 
Trees that have been tapped in the manner described 
do not survive the operation. In the course of time 
their places are no doubt taken by young trees that 
grow from seeds. The amazonian castilloas are found 
on elevated lund which is beyond the reach of floods, 
whereas the hcveaa thrive best in the lowlands that 
are periodically inundated by the River Amazon. 
Sir W. T. Thistleton Dyer, Director of Kew Gar- 
dens, in a communication to the Foreign Office, states 
that caucho, of which caouthouc is probably an ex- 
panded form, has been hitherto identified with 
" India-rubber " par excellence, the produce of one 
or more species of hevea indigenous to the basin of 
the Amazons and exported from Paia; it would now, 
however, appear that the cancho tree of Peru is a 
castilloa. One or more species of this genous pro- 
duces the India-rubber of Central America. In South 
America the castilloa has been known to extent as 
far as Ecuador, where it is called jchc, otherwise 
icve or heve. According to Aublet, this latter name 
was given in Northen Ecuador to a species of hevea, 
and in f ounding that genous he derived its name 
accordingly. In the Amazon basin the name for the 
species ol hevea is " Seringa," and in Central America 
for those of castilloa " Ule " or " Tuun " fsee Kcw 
Bulletin, 1898, pp. 141, 142.) Perhaps in Western 
South America the names caucho and Jehe are applied 
indiscrimi aiely to rubber-producing trees. 
According to a report by Mr. D. B. Adjinison, H. 
M. Cunsul at Iqnitos, dated 24th December, 1893, 
and published in the "Transactions" of the Liver- 
pool Geographical Society for the same year, Pem 
has two kinds of rubber producing trees — caucho, 
which aj-pears to belong to castilloa, and jebe to 
hevea (pp 3;) 40). Both Mr. Adamson and Mr. Church- 
hill also state that the rubber is extracted from the 
caurho tree by felling. 
The jehe is always tapped. The former process 
r> suits m a district being " worked out." In conse- 
quence, according to Mr. Adamson, " many of the 
' caucheros ' (or rubber collectors] are woiking on 
Brazilian rivers, where the supply is yet more plenti- 
ful." It is not, however, necessary to fell the castilloa 
trees to collect the rubbsr. — British Central Africa 
Gazette. 
« 
NOTES ON THE ".SPOTTED COFFEF-BUG" 
AND KINDRED QUESTIONS. 
BY .J. MA HON. 
When the particulars of Mr. Cameron's discovery 
were forwarded to me for examination and report it 
was suggested that 1 should write something on the 
subject as soon as the facts were made public pro- 
perty. There are a few points, perhaps, that may 
be briefly touched upon to some purpose. 
With the descriptions and mode of life of the insect 
as set forth iu the pamphlet just published I find 
no grounds for differing, and it does not seem necessary 
to repeat them here. When my attention was di- 
rected to the matter our dry season was too far 
advanced for any "very critical observations, as un- 
doubtedly the insects' chief ^depredations are com- 
mitted while the coffee berries are young and growing. 
Careful search in a couple of plantations where "spot- 
ted " and "light " bean are common failed to reveal the 
insect, and but little success attended a considerable 
hunt amongst the flowers and fruits of many native 
plants. This was during the latter half of July. 
In Mr. Cameron's companv I subsequently saw the 
creature at work iu his gardens wherever green berries 
were common. That the numbers seen were not 
great was due, doubtless, to the vigorous measures 
he was taking for their destruction. I observed the 
insect a day or so later in greater force on the 
neighbouring Magomero Estate but I did not find 
it on other Namasi plantations. 
At Zomba, early in August, I met with another 
phase of the creature's mischievous habits, which, 
although it did not surprise me when I found it, 
is not mentioned by Mr. Cameron. Examining some 
beds of seedling Coffee Arabica ('unshaded) which we 
raised recently I noticed the terminals and young 
"primaries" of many drooping, whilst some were 
killed. Presently I came on a few of the bugs 
sucking these parts in other seedlings proving them 
to be the cause. At the same time I took a relative 
of theirs, as large as a longicom beetle and of a dull 
brownish colour, who was occupied in the same des- 
tructive work. He prelers to conduct operations head 
downwards always and resembles a fragment of dead 
brar.ch or leaf at the first glance, This indicates 
that the planter's vigilance must not only te exer- 
cised over plant in bearing but actually from the 
time his coffee germinates. My observations lead 
me to the same conclusions as Mr. Cameron regard- 
ing the " spotted bug " and its congeners being the 
principal cause of "spotted bean'' and, to a certain 
extent, of "empty" or "light" berry also. Con- 
cerning the latter, however, I find so much of it 
