125 Okapa-Purosa Saturday, September 19. Light rain during much of the night. Sandflies troublesome, but not biting as hard as most, from sometime after we went to bed until after dawn. Bright day after early morning mist. Mist in the treetops again from about 2 p.m.; coming down to near the ground by 4:30. All day spent in building a good, comfortable camp; living fly, boy's fly, tent for me to work and sleep in, sleeping tent for Van and John, spare tent for my plant dryers, kitchen lean-to, latrines and a bathhouse. Local natives helped substantially in this work. We are in the South Fore census area and one of the main kuru areas. We are out of the great populations of the Central Highlands. These people are much quieter, quite well behaved as compared with the Lufa bunch, and the cleanest people we have been amongst since we came to the mountains. One notices the absence of the stale pig fat stench of the Lufas. Most of the forest encountered between Kainantu and Okapa appeared to be beech forest. Here at Purosa, at least near the camp, some of the larger trees look like beeches in their fine straight boles and gray hard bark, but none of them that I have seen are beeches. Sunday, September 20. Mist in the treetops until c. 8 a.m.; good sun until early afternoon then high overcast; steady rain between 4 and 5 followed by high mist. Started field work with a walk back along the jeep road for a good mile. Tall primary forest all the way. We are in the best location for a camp in this locality. About 1/4 mile back along the road an old patrol road branches off and disappears in a tunnel of forest in the head of a small valley. This should be an excellent jacking trail. Collected 20 spp. including a fragrant white violet on the roadside, a Begonia with velvety green and silver leaves, a most virulent stinging bush) Laportea), and a tall Pandanus called Yogi in the Fore tongue. Saw noh beech trees, and for that matter no Fagaceae at all. We are in a montane mixed rain forest in which species of Terminalia and Eugenia are prominent canopy trees. An extremely tall palm looks like the Gulubia collected at Gono, about 30 miles to the NW. A few traps set the first night here caught two of the blackish Rattus niobe. Fortyeight traps out last night yielded ten rodents including a big brown Melomys new to the collection and another of the genus. A Pseudocheirus forbesi was jacked last night. Brought in today by a native boy was the first known female of Mayermys, of which only four males are known, all in the BM. A promising start. Had a number of native visitors during the day. Some of them said this was their Sunday and that tomorrow they will get out and do some hunting. Monday, September 21. Early morning mist clearing before eight. Day mostly overcast; sporadic showers from noon on to c. 5 p.m. Botanized down the road about a mile towards Purosa. At that point, on a prominent ridge crest, the prevailing mixed rain forest gave way to a small area of Castanopsis-pak forest carrying characteristic small woody plants in the undergrowth (Eurya, Acronychia, etc.). A nice lot of 24 spp. all told included a common red Rhododendron epiphytic high on the trees in rain forest. No canopy trees collected.