2. Ceará Rubber.—

At the end of August of last year consignments of plants of the Ceará. rubber, consisting, in each instance, of two wardian cases containing 80 plants, and one dry box containing 40 plants, were sent to Lieut.-Colonel Beddome, Conservator of Forests, Madras, and Dr. King, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta. Of those sent to Madras all were alive on arrival in the wardian cases, while of the contents of the dry box about half were saved. Those originally sent to Dr. King (see Kew Report for 1877, p. 16) arrived in rather bad condition. Few were saved, and the growth of these did not impress Dr. King favourably. "They all look more or less weak and lanky, as if the climate were too damp for them." This was, perhaps, a premature judgment from want of familiarity with the habit of the plant. Dr. King now writes:—"Ceará rubber is going to be a success here."

At Ceylon, in April one of the plants first sent out had already made an attempt to flower, and by the end of the year Dr. Thwaites was distributing copious supplies of seed to Calcutta, Burmah, Madras, and Singapore (where, however, it-seems unable to stand the wet season).

I regard, therefore, the work of Kew completed as regards the Ceará rubber. Living plants of it have been distributed during the past year to Dominica, Fiji, Jamaica, Java, Sydney, Trinidad, Queensland, and Zanzibar.