All the nuts exported at the present time are in a decorticated form, and the reason given for decortication is that there is a large saving in weight in carriage thereby. It is, nevertheless, generally admitted that in an undecorticated form the nuts are better preserved in transit, and it often happens that the price for undecorticated nuts is higher than for decorticated. It is, however, recognised that if the appearance of the shell is rusty or dirty, it should be removed before shipment, as this condition adversely affects the market value. The demand for undecorticated nuts is for confectionery, and is relatively small as compared with the amount used, chiefly in France, for the expression of oil. The weights of groundnuts exported in 1917 and 1918 were respectively 50,334 and 57,555 tons. The Kano nuts appear to be of such a clean type that it might be found more advantageous to ship them in an undecorticated state, but this can be ascertained when transport has been facilitated sufficiently to establish a continuous trade with a particular market. The chief markets for the product were Marseilles and Hamburg, where it was employed for the expression of oil, used principally for admixture with, or as a substitute for, olive oil. Although formerly almost entirely sent to the German port, they now come mostly to England. (Cf. _Bull. Imp. Inst._, vol. xvi. [1918].) =GUMS.=—In the drier regions Acacia trees of several species become plentiful, but many of these do not seem to produce gum. Some of the gum in the Sudan is said to be derived from _A. arabica_, Willd., which is not uncommon in certain localities, but is almost entirely unproductive in this country. The tree known in Haussa as “Gawo,” identified as _A. Albida_, Delile, is perhaps the commonest species near Kano, and one which produces a small amount of reddish gum. None, however, is apparently collected from the tree in the district. The species from which most of the gum is collected in Bornu is said to be identical with that called “Karu” in Kano, of which only immature specimens have as yet been examined. This is probably referable to _A. Verek_, Guill. & Perr., which is the most important source of the Senegal product, and to which Bentham refers _A. Senegal_, Willd. In Kontagora a good quality of gum is obtained from a tree which has been identified as _A. Caffra_, Willd. This tree does not appear to occur plentifully here, but further investigation is necessary with regard to it in the dry uninhabited regions where it is found. An illustration of this tree is given (Fig. 29). Another species which has been recorded by Barter from the Niger, and is said by him to yield “a gum like gum-arabic,” is _A. mellifera_, Bentham, and may be one of those from which the present exported product is collected.