137 
this is so for several reasons, it is easy to procure seed as the plant 
is wild in this part of the world and one can be sure that it will 
grow well as the soil and climate are naturally suitable for it. The 
German Colonial reports show that Funtumias of the same age as 
Castilloas are relatively more advanced, the Funtumias give seed 
at the end of two years and a half while Castilloa fruits only at the 
end of from three and a half to four years. If one compares the 
latex of the two, at the same age, one can see that it is much mor,e 
concentrated less watery and sticky in Funtumia than in Castilloa 
and that it can give a return more quickly. Castilloa according to 
M. KOSCHNY can only be milked when eight years old. As to the 
rubber itself that of Funtumia is as good or better than that of 
Castilloa. The results of comparative researches with Funtumia 
and Castilloa in West Africa are in favour of the former. In three 
or three and a half years these trees have grown to 4 or 5 inches 
in height and a considerable thickness. The Funtumia is attacked 
by the caterpillar of a species of Glvphodes, near or identical with 
GLoceliata. of Sierra Leone. (We have several species of this 
genus of moths in the Straits, one of which has been troublesome 
with Ficus elastica, as described in a recent number of the Bulletin.) 
This caterpillar chiefly attacks the young plants, in the nurseries 
spinning the leaves together, and devouring the parenchyma. 
They are destroyed by hand after a year and a half or two years 
they are less readily attacked. Snails and the larvae and adults of 
some species of beetles are also recorded as attacking the young 
plants. 
The seed, sown freshly gathered, sprout after about 15 days 
and grow very rapidly, and the plants are readily transported. If 
at first the stem bifurcates forming a bu 4 i, either a shoot is deve- 
loped above the bifurcation, or one branch grows more strongly 
than the other eventually forming the trunk. Among the advantages 
of Funtumia one may mention that the latex flows more easily and 
quickly than that of Castilloa or Ficus and the seeds keep good for 
6 weeks and even germinate after three months. Nor is the Fun- 
tumia particular as to soil it grows equally well in lateritic, or 
basaltic soils, in soils rich in humus or stony. As to altitude, it has 
been noticed that it does best below 800 metres. It is reckoned 
that in April, 1902, there were in the Cameroons 200,000 plants, 
exclusive of wild ones. The plan of planting Funtumias in a light- 
ly cleared forest as has been frequently done is not recommended. 
They do not grow so w'ell in shade as in full sun, when they are 
; too weak to resist the drying action of sun and wind, they natur- 
[ ally should be protected, but when they are strong enough to resist 
this they develop better when fully exposed to the sun, provided 
that the ground is damp enough. From the experiments made in 
plantations in German territory the Funtumias should be planted 
6 metres apart.* 
The tree is one of the best shade trees for Cocoa, but as it is 
pyramidal in form it will be necessary to plant close which is not a 
disadvantage. It is also recommended to use the tree to grow 
Vanilla on as in ten years when the vanilla is dying out the rubber 
