April 1, 1904. J THE TEOPICAL 
AGRICULTUEIST. 
657 
Oil extracted 
Oil extracted from decorti- 
froiu I'ara cated Para Linseed 
Rubber Rubber seeds Oil. 
Seed Meal. (freshly 
Yield of oil crushed). 
per ceut. .. 36 1 42-3 33—37 
Physical state Solid below Liquid at 15« Liquid a'. 15° 
iy° C. 
Specific gra- 
vity 158/0 115° 0-911 0-9302 Q-ySl— 0037 
Free fatty acida 
per cent, (cal- 
culated as 
oleic acid) 65-6 5'4 0-4— 5'7 
Iodine value .. 136 2 128 3 KiO— 181 
It will be observed that the oil extrioted from the 
meal was solid, whereas that obtained fiom the freshly 
ground seed was a liquid. This difference is due to the 
large proportion (65 6 per cent.) of free fatty acids 
present in the former, whilst the latter contained only 
5 4 per cent, of free acids. The cause of this difference 
in the two oils has been investigated, and it has been 
found that after the seed has been crushed the oil 
gradually undergoes decomposition, owing to the action 
of a hydcolytio enzy me contained in the seed, which 
will be made the subject of special study: 
ANALYSIS OF THE MEAL 
The meal furnished the following results of 
analysis : — 
Per cent. 
Moisture ... .. .. ...9 1 
Ash .. ... ... .. .. 3-53 
Fibre .. 3-4 
Oil ... 361 
Proteida .. .. ... .. 18 2 
Carbohydrates ... ... .. 29-67 
The ash was found to contain 30 3 per cent, of phos- 
phoric acid (calculated as P2O5) present in the form of 
phosphates, which is equivalent to 1-07 per cent, of 
phosphoric acid in the meal. 
THE MEAL USELESS AS FODDER. 
The reanlts of this examination of the Para rubber 
seed meal ia'Hoate that the material thus prepared 
could neither be uaed as a fodder, owing to the pre- 
sence in it of large quantities of free falty acids, nor 
for the expression of Para rubber seed oil since the 
latter has been largely decomposed. It is probable, 
however, that if the oil were expressed from the decor- 
ticated seeds, the residual calie could be utilised as a 
feeding material, as is shown by the following compari- 
son between the calculated composition of such a cake 
and the compositions of some commercial feeding cakes. 
° a, ft fL| a 
■§ il III 
o u ^ ~ 
ft 
first had an opportunity of testing it in bulb. The 
brokers consider that it would be more profitable to 
ship the seeds themselves to this country, as is done in 
the case of most other oil seeds. They value the de- 
corticated seeds at £10 to £12 per ton, and add 
that they would be prepared to take two or three tons 
at the lower price in order to introduce them into the 
market. 
The Para rubber seed meal was not commercially 
valued, since in its present condition it could not be 
utilised in any way. Para rubber seed '' cake " of the 
composition already given should be almost as valuable 
as liuseed cake, which at present sella at from £5 15a. 
to £6 15s. per ton. 
The results of this investigation says the " Imperial 
Institute Bulletin," lead to the conclusion that the seed 
of the Para rubber tree is a valuable economic product, 
and is likely to become of commercial importance. 
The oil could probably be employed for the purpose to 
which linseed oil is applied, whilst the residual cake 
would be of value as a cattle food. The oil should be 
expressed from the kernels before these have been 
gi'ound, and for this reason the seeds should, if possible, 
be decorticated and the kernels reported unground. 
Calculated com- 
position of — 
Para (rubber 
(seedcake) ... 13-36 5-19 26-81 5'00 6-O0 43-64 84-25 
Linseed cuke 
(new process) 9-4 5 4 356 7-1 7 5 35-0 87-85 
Linseed cake 
(old process) 10 8 5 0 28 6 6-7 10-6 38-3 9i-28 
(Cottonseed cake 
newprocesa) 11 12 6 10 38 47 9-78 8-78 25-75 84'4 
These figures show that a cake prepared from Para 
rubber seed meal would compaie favouiably with other 
cakes as a cattle food, and that it contains a particularly 
low proportion of indigestible matter (fibre). 
COMMRHCIAL VALUATION. 
Specimens of both the seeds and nil have been sub- 
mitted to leading brokers. They repoi t that the oil 
oould probably be used as a substitute for liuseed oil, 
and would be worth at present abuuc £iO per ton, but 
that oil merchants would not take it np unless they 
NOTSS ON liANTANA INSECTS. 
INTRODUCTION INTO HAWAIL 
The growth and spread of the lantana shrub ia 
the island of Hawaii seems to be as bad there as 
it is in Ceylon. Various methods have been tried 
to arrest its spread, and now the introduction of 
Lantana-feeding insects has been adopted. Most of 
these appear to have been introduced from Mexico, 
A paper read by Mr, R. 0. L. Perkins, Assistant 
Superintendent Division of Entomology, before the 
Hawaiian Live Stock Breeders' Association on the 
subject will be of interest to Ceylon planters, who 
will watch for the result of the experiment. 
In order to bring up to date the account of the 
insects that were imported from Mexico to check the 
growth or spread of lantana, I have drawn up these 
brief additional notes. My earlier reports on these 
insects have already been published in past numbers 
of the Planters' Monthli/, 
Excluding those species of which only a single 
mature specimen was obtained alive at any one time, 
and which consequently could not become established 
in the island, I find that Mr. Koebele supplied me 
with the following number of species : 
Butterflies and moths .. ... 14 
Beetles ... ... ... 2 
Bugs ... ... ... 1 
Flies ... .. ... 2 
Total ... .. ... 19 
In addition to these, at least ten other species were 
sent over from Mexico, either for immediate intro- 
duction or for experimenting on with a view to in- 
troduction, if this were safe. All these, however, 
failed to survive the long journey or died from the 
attacks of parasites and fungus diseases with which 
they were affected. AH the difficulties encountered 
in importing the lantana insects fiom Mexico to the 
Islands have been fully discussed in my earlier papers, 
and need not be refeired to again on this occasion. 
BtTIEBFLIES AND MOTHS. 
To return to the 17 imported species, of which adults 
were obtained alive, 1 find that; of the 14 butterflies 
■ and moths, three species were destroyed by me as 
being decidedly dangerous to other vegetation ; two 
others were not liberated i ecause they were liable 
to become injurious ; and one, of which only a so'itary 
pair were obtained, failed to breed. Subtracting all 
these, eicht species of butterflies and moths v/ere 
liberatoa in numbers sufficient to render their e-tab- 
lishrueut possible. Three of these species soon showed 
up in large numbers — some four mouths after they 
wera liberated ; two others were not seen at all 
