548    frocess  of  taking  photographic  pictures  on  glass. 
upper  mouth  of  the  Casiquiare  I  saw  several  trees  of  marirna 
blanca,  but  they  were  perched  high  up  on  other  trees,  and  had 
no  flowers  or  fruit.  Those  who  have  herborized  among  mosoui- 
toes,  ants,  and  wasps,  will  understand  why  I  did  not  trouble 
myself  to  gather  only  a  sterile  branch. 
In  descending  the  Casiquiare,  in  January,  1853,  I  reached  one 
evening  a  small  village  some  distance  above  the  outlet  of  Lake 
Vasiva — one  of  those  pueblos  which  spring  up  on  the  banks  of 
Rio  Negro  and  Casiquiare,  endure  barely  a  generation,  and  then 
disappear — where  I  found  nearly  the  whole  population  (Indians 
of  the  tribe  Pacimonare)  amusing  themselves  by  a  sort  of  football. 
Their  balls  seemed  to  be  the  inflated  bladders  of  some  large 
quadruped,  such  as  the  tapir ;  but  on  picking  one  up  I  found  it 
to  be  India-rubber.  I  asked  them  to  keep  two  or  three  balls  for 
me  when  they  had  finished  their  game,  and  they  promised  to  do 
so,  but  during  the  night  they  all  got  gloriously  drunk  and  burst 
their  balls.  I  did  not  see  the  tree  from  which  this  rubber  was 
extracted,  but  from  the  description  given  me  it  was  a  true  Sipho- 
nia,  perhaps  S.  lutea. 
In  consequence  of  so  many  people  devoting  themselves  to  the 
fabrication  of  seringa,  the  value  fell  again  more  rapidly  than  it 
had  risen,  and  by  last  advices  from  Para  to  date  of  February  1, 
1855,  seringa  was  down  at  15  to  18  milreis  the  arroba. 
Richard  Spruce. 
Barra  do  Rio  Negro,  Feb.  9th,  1855. 
Hooker  s  Journal  of  Botany  and  Pharm,  Journ. 
SPECIFICATION  OF  THE  PATENT  GRANTED  TO  JAMES  A.  CUT- 
TING, OF  BOSTON,  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA, 
PHOTOGRAPHER,  FOR  AN  IMPROVED  PROCESS  OF  TAKING 
PHOTOGRAPHIC  PICTURES  ON  GLASS,  AND  ALSO  OF  BEAUTI- 
FYING AND  PRESERVING  THE  SAME. — [Dated  London,  July  26, 
1854.] 
This  invention  consists  in  an  improved  process  of  taking  pho- 
tographic pictures  upon  glass,  and  also  of  beautifying  and  pre- 
serving the  same,  which  process  I  have  styled  "  ambrotype." 
My  improved  process  has  reference  to  the  art  of  taking  pictures 
photographically  on  a  film  of  collodion  upon  the  surface  of  a 
sheet  of  glass,  the  collodion  being  suitably  prepared  for  the  pur- 
