140 
in the gardens, as well as some in pots. Some of them flowered 
that year, and this year one or two planted out fruited in November. 
The fruit ha^ never been described, and as it is very different from 
that of C. asiaticum which otherwise this plant much resembles, I 
give a description of it. It is obliquely pear-shaped 4 inches long, 
narrowed at the base, and 3 inches through at the top which is 
terminated by the perianth tube 3 inches of which remain. The 
base is greenish on the inner side, the one facing the centre of the 
bunch of fruits, the upper part claret coloured polished. It contains 
three ovoid orbicular seeds each 2\ inch long, i inch through, the 
back rounded, the inner side hardly angled but flattened and 
depressed. They are the biggest seeds of any Crinum I know of. 
The purple colouring of the pericarp resembles that of the pasture 
land C. deiixum and is absent from that of Crinum asiaticum in 
which the pericarp is greenish white. The fruit and seed are very 
much larger than those of C. asiaticum , in fact they are the largest 
Crinum fruits I have seen. 
H. N. R. 
Lewis and Peat’s Report on Plantation Grown 
Rubber from Ceylon, the Straits and 
Malay States for 1906. 
6, Mincing Lane, 
London, January , 1907. 
There has been a great * increase in the imports of Plantation ■ 
Grown Rubbers to London during the past year. The total quantity 
being about 500 tons from Ceylon and Malaya, against about 200 
tons during 1905, and also a few tons each from Java, Sumatra and 
Southern India, and some small lots from the West Indies. About 
350 tons of this were sold at public auction. The range of prices 
has not been as high as those realized during 1905, and the difference 
between Fine Para from the Amazon and Plantation Grown has 
been reduced from about 1/ per lb. to 4 d @ 6 d per lb. Buyers are 
now much more particular about quality and appearance, and where, 
formerly, practically all grades fetched the same price, now dark 
and unsightly or mixed lots of biscuits and sheets do not realize 
within or 4 d. per lb. of the better lots. If is very satisfactory' to 
report that practically all prejudice against Crepe has disappeared, 
and good pale has been in strong demand, also the lower grades 
have been selling extremely well. It is better for planters to send 
fair to good Crepe than inferior biscuits or sheets, and scrap Rubber 
made into Crepe is realizing a better price than the ordinary 
form of preparation. Block Rubber has taken a firm footing in the 
market and is readily saleable. Prices realized have been about 2d. 
and 3 d. per lb. above biscuits and sheets, but we do not look for a 
continuance of so great a premium. 
