The kernel of the fresh bean, “Nips”, is white and has a bitter taste and alternates in colour between whitish yellow, rose and violet; the mere influence of solar heat is sufficient to produce the brown cacao pigment, but drying is not so effective as fermentation in removing the harsh bitter taste and hence fermented beans are always to be preferred. These have often acquired a darker colour in the process, their weight is considerably diminished, and their flavour modified to an oily sweetness, without losing an atom of the original aroma[13]. Commercially and for manufacturing purposes only the seeds of the cacao tree are of importance. The root bark is said by Herr Loyer of Manila to be of medicinal value as a remedy for certain common female complaints and is employed by the natives of the Philippine Islands as an abortifacient. According to Peckoldt[14] the fruit shell contains a considerable amount of material that yields mucilage and might therefore be utilised as a substitute for linseed. e) Description of the Beans. The varieties of the cacao tree which yield the beans at the present time occurring in commerce are. Theobroma cacao, Linné the ~true cacao~, spread over the widest area, and almost ~exclusively cultivated on plantations~, with many varieties (Crillo, Forastero etc.) and Theobroma ~bicolor~, a party-coloured cacao tree the seeds of which are mixed with Brazilian and Caracas beans. Theobroma speciosum Wildenow, which yields, like Theobroma cacao, Brazilian beans (magnificent tree). Theobroma quayanense, yielding Guiana beans. Theobroma silvestre or forest cacao. Theobroma subincanum, ~white-leaved-cacao~, and Theobroma microcarpum, ~small-fruited cacao~, ~are met with as admixtures~ in Brazilian beans. Theobroma glaucum, ~grey cacao~, fruits of which variety are found among Caracas beans. Theobroma angustifolium the ~narrow-leaved~ and Theobroma ovatifolium, ~oval leaf~, may be regarded as characteristic of Mexican cacao. Before describing the commercial kinds of cacao, a knowledge of which is of first importance to manufacturers, it is desirable to consider the beans in regard to external form and microscopial structure, in order that the use of some indispensable scientific expressions in the subsequent description of particular commercial kinds of cacao may be intelligible. The bean, page 3 Fig. 2 C-G, consists, according to Hanousek[15], of a seed-shell, a seed-skin and the embryo or kernel with the radicle. The oval-shaped seed is generally from 16 to 28 mm. long, 10 to 15 mm. broad and from 4 to 7 mm. thick. At the lower end of the bean there is a depressed, flattened and frequently circular hilum visible, from which a moderately marked line extends up to the apex of the bean where it forms the centre of radiating longitudinal ribs— vascular bundles-extending to the middle of the bean through the outer seed-coating back to the hilum.