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There is no more important group of questions demanding attention from the chemist at the present time than those connected with the production of India-rubber or caoutchouc. An enormous increase in the demand for India-rubber has taken place in the last few years, and last year the production was not less than 60,000 tons. Until recently the supply of rubber came chiefly from two' sources--the forests of Brazil, which contain the tree known as Hevea brasil-iensis, furnishing the Para rubber of commerce which commands the highest price, and the forests of Africa, where climbing plants, generally of the Landolphia class, also furnish rubber. The increased demand for caoutchouc has led to the extensive planting of the Para rubber tree, especially in Ceylon and in the Federated Malay States. Systematic cultivation and improved methods of preparation are responsible for the fact that the product of the cultivated tree, which begins to furnish satisfactory rubber when six or seven years old, is now commanding a higher price than the product of the wild tree in Brazil. It is estimated that within the next seven years the exports of cultivated India-rubber from Ceylon and the Federated Malay States will reach between ten and fifteen million pounds annually, and that after fifteen years' they may exceed the exports of the so-called wild rubber' from Brazil. Some valuable natural history acquisitions have recently been secured by various zoological institutions in- Great Britain. An extensive collection of chimpanzees, two of which were brought from Africa, are of more than passing interest. One belongs to a hitherto unknown species, the face being cream-colored, while the other, which is of a rare species, is known as a koolokamba. It has a shaggy coat jet black in color, with the hair hanging over the hands like mittens. The head is quite bald, and its size is somewhat abnormal for this race. It receives its curious name from the peculiar guttural sound it makes and which signifies the animal that speaks. The London Zoological Gardens have received twelve specimens of the leaf insect, so called on account of its curious and striking likeness to a leaf, which it resembles in every respect--shape, color, veining, and texture being identical. This strange insect comes from a damp climate, and in order to keep the specimens moist, they have to be continually sprayed with water. These gardens have also been presented with two specimens of the white ibis, which is rapidly becoming extinct. These were secured by Lord Crawford during his recent seven months' cruise round South Africa and the Mozambique Channel, by -permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild, from Aldabra, who some time ago secured a lease of the island from the government, in order to preserve these rare birds. During the. same voyage Lord Crawford collected about five hundred specimens of rare birds, which have been presented to the British Museum, to be mounted for the national collection.
