- 79 - occasional light rain. Collected in the water place gully. A bag of over 30 spp., but nothing out standing, and all hard to find in series. Geoff completed his trail to the Atairo stream striking it at 1370 m. Distant about an hour from camp. Reports a stream about 12 feet wide, rapid and with pools. Brought back for me a white Impatiens with the biggest flowers I have seen on a wild balsam (6 cm. long). This evening it appears that the mystery of the "6 o'clock cricket" has been solved. Every evening and every morning in the mountains; within 10 minutes of six, regardless of weather conditions, there are strident chirrings in the forests of the New Guinea mountains. I remember the chorus as high as Murray Pass (10,000 ft). There are similar sounds, equally regular in the mountains of Cape York Peninsula. This evening the maker of the noise was picked from a tree trunk in camp. A very big cicada, 7 cm. long; eyes green, front of thorax mahogany-red, veins of wings green tailing off into brown. Watches are set by the sound of the "crickets". In the old days the miners working small crews on gold, started their boys with the call in the morning and in the evening it was the "mock-off" signal. We still have to check tonight's observations with captive insects. Saturday, June 27, 1953: Max 23, Min. 15 degrees C. An old-fashioned wet day. Heavy rain began at 5:45 and with brief spells continued all day and until after seven this evening. Having trouble with light weight rubber coated nylon flys bought in New York. Poor workmanship the trouble, rather than the material. A double rig necessary to keep the boys' quarters dry. The boys have a pot of bovril bouillon to go to bed on tonight. Our first mail since the 7th, arrived about noon, safe and dry in an old Australian Army haversack carried by a Biniguni native. The native was an old acquaintance, but washed clean of grease and wood smoke stain and with the golden brown of his skin accented by a new tapa breechclout figured in yellow, he looked like another man. We all had good news from home. We learned of the conquest of Mt. Everest and Mr. Rhees' headstrong course in Korea; the jittery stock market, and what the coronation looked like on TV. Much of the mail carrier's load consisted of collecting kits for antibiotics research materials sent by Chas. Pfizer & Co. Sunday, June 28, 1953: No temperature records. The pack-cloth roof of my thermometer house went yesterday to help screen in the weather end of the boys' fly. Light rain on and off from midnight to late afternoon today. Half clear sky tonight. Collected down the trail about 100 m. alt., part of the time in rain, and in about two hours brought in 34 species. One of those lucky days. One find followed another in an area already gone over hastily. Finally, in the rain, I had a small tree cut down for a fern which grew on its upper trunk. I found on it three species of ferns hitherto uncollected, four mosses, an orchid; and in its fall the tree brought down a smaller one new to the collection.