DESTRUCTION  OF  GUTTA  PERCHA  TREES. 
559 
Ten  yards  distant  was  also  another  young  oak  tree,  and  at 
that  point  the  gutta  percha  of  the  wires  had  also  decayed.  I 
will  again  communicate  with  the  Board  when  I  have  made 
further  investigations,  but  at  present  I  feel  bound  to  say  that 
the  presence  of  the  mycellium  of  a  fungus,  and  the  decaying  of 
the  gutta  percha  covering  of  the  telegraphic  wire,  being  so  con- 
stantly associated  together,  I  can  come  to  no  other  conclusion 
than  this — viz.,  that  the  mycellium  of  a  fungus  will  cause  de- 
composition in  gutta  percha,  and  probably  in  most  other  vege- 
table productions  Lond.  Pharm.  Journ.  Sept.  1857. 
DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  GUTTA  PERCHA  TREES  IN  SINGAPORE. 
A  correspondent  of  Hooker's  Journal  of  Botany  makes  the 
following  observations  on  the  destruction  of  the  gutta  percha 
trees  in  Singapore  : — 
»  I  have  commenced  to  collect  all  the  different  guttas  that  are 
brought  to  Singapore  in  the  Malay  and  Bugis  prahus,  and  when 
I  have  succeeded  in  procuring  specimens  of  the  principal  part 
of  them,  I  will  send  them  to  you. 
«  Many  of  those  passing  under  different  names,  however,  are 
merely  different  qualities  of  the  same  stuff,  or  prepared  in  a  dif- 
ferent manner.  Seeds  of  the  gutta  percha  tree,  and  flowering 
specimens  of  the  plant,  I  am  afraid  I  shall  not  be  able  to  pro- 
cure in  Singapore,  as  we  have  nothing  but  very  small  trees  left 
in  the  island  now  J  all  those  old  enough  to  yield  even  a  very 
small  quantity  of  sap  having  been  cut  down  by  the  Malays ;  but 
Sir  James  Brooke,  who  has  been  staying  here,  has  promised  to 
send  me  both  from  Sarawak,  where  there  is  no  difficulty  in  pro- 
curing them,  there  being  abundance  of  full-grown  trees  still.* 
The  trees  are  always  cui  down  here  to  procure  the  sap,  though 
I  have  no  doubt  it  is  very  bad  policy  to  do  so,  since  by  tapping 
*  "  The  Borneo  gutta  percha,  we  believe,  is  much  less  esteemed  than  that  of 
Singapore,  and  from  specimens  of  the  leaves  that  have  been  sent  us  by  Sir 
James  Brooke,  it  would  appear  that  the  species  is  different  from  the  true  gutta 
percha.  The  veritable  Isonandra  gutta  has,  however,  recently  been  detected  in 
Sumatra,  and  a  specimen  has  been  sent  to  us  by  our  excellent  friend  Professor 
de  Vriese,  of  Leyden. — Ed." 
