India Rubber and Gutta Percha. 63 
Georgetown by the steamer. Our dried specimens 
numbered about 800 specimens, representing 185 
species. 
India-rubber, or caoutchouc, and gutta-percha are ob- 
tained from several plants, trees, shrubs and climbers 
which inhabit several parts of the tropical world. These 
regions are, Africa, Madagascar, India, the Malayan 
islands and some of the Pacific islands and America, from 
Mexico to Brazil. The plants which yield india-rubber 
belongtothe natural orders — Artocarpeas, Euphorbiaceae, 
Apocyneae ; and those producing gutta-percha to 
Sapotaceas. The former are Ficus elastica, two or 
three species of Hevea, Castilloa elastica, Man- 
ihot Glazeovii, Urceola elastica and some member 
of the genera Urostigma, Alstonia and Taberncemon- 
tana ; and the latter, Iromandra gutta and Mimusops 
batata. 
Ficus elastica is a large much branched spreading tree ) 
sometimes a hundred feet high, with large, ridge-like roots 
elevated above the surface of the ground, and extending 
with tortuous curves as far as the branches reach. It 
is common in parts of India, especially Assam, and the 
Indian islands ; and plantations of it, which are extended 
from vear to year, have been established by the Govern- 
ment of India and Assam. 
Hevca is a tropical American genus diffused from 
Guiana to Brazil. The best known species is 77. brasi- 
liensis, which yields the Para rubber, the best caoutchouc 
in the market ; 7,340 tons were exported from the pro- 
vince of Para in 1879. Last year the quantity is reported 
to have been much less, and valued at /J6oo,ooo. These 
