-84- the species which dominated the forest at 2000 m. At about 1650 m, in the oak forest a climbing Quintinia abounds. It greatly resembles Q. Fawkeri of the mountains of Cape York Peninsula. Van obliged to burn a lamp all day in a tent to dry his mammal specimens. At inspection time this A.M. my patient greeted me with a fairly bright "Good morning". Temperature about normal. Seems to be on the up grade. Thursday, July 9, 1953: Max. 20, Min. 14 C. About 2 hours of sun in morning. Mist and light rain 2 P.M. to dusk. Stars bright through the trees this evening (7:30). No matter what the weather may be during the day, nights usually are clear. Sent boys into the Atairo Gorge this morning and they brought back, among other things, the first buttercup for the collection. An unexpected occurrence. This genus is alpine in New Guinea, though descending considerably lower in streamways. I did not find it high on this mountain. A good tasting cress (Cardamine) grows on wet mossy rocks in the Ataira. We ate some today with afternoon tea sandwiches. Often these days I find a little knowledge no certain advantage in botanical collecting. Geoff has been telling me about an unusual fern growing in what he calls a pot-hole, down in the gorge. Today, at cost of such exertion, he collected it and left the specimen on the trail for my boys to carry to camp. Asked why they had not brought in the fern, they explained it was without "Hua-Hua", and they had thrown it away. That is what comes of trying to teach the boys to collect only spore bearing ferns. They have learned that many ferns are dimorphic and that both kinds of leaves must be collected. One should not expect too much from help paid 30/- a month. Patients temperature only a trifle above normal this morning. Found him drawing at a trade tobacco and newspaper cigarette when I popped in to dress his foot at 5 P.M. Friday July 10, 1953: Max. 21.5, Min. 14 C. A most welcome break in weather. Sunny in camp most of day. No rain; little mist. Botanized down the trail to about the 1250 m. level. Not many species collected but several good things, among them the 3rd species of Begonia for the camp, and in the head of one gully in the oak forest, 2 fine tree-ferns (Cyathea). Caught under my foot at 1250 m., and killed between thumb and finger, the first snake for the mountain. It was only a foot long with prettily marked white and black neck parts and dull brown body which blended well with the ground cover of rotting oak leaves. Other herpetological accessions were a skink and a gecko. But these were taken by Geoff's boys at about 700-800 m., and are only to be regarded as a preview of what our next camp (700 m.) offers. In early afternoon two carriers arrived from Biniguni with some fresh food (taro, sweet potatoes, yams, pumpkins, coconuts) and a long letter from Ken. A case of bully beef left in Kwagira resthouse with other goods has been stolen. He feels and I agree that action should be taken to bring the thief or thieves to book. Authorized him to do this, but not if such action should require my going to Baniara (10 days there and back) for a court case. The theft, I feel,