L. 25, P. 10 Went this afternoon to look at the steel trap lines. They are all along the north side of West Creek close to the water and along the shore of the Baura Kussa in the other direction. Decided to try baiting them. So far they have been set in likely run place. Made a bait of chopped yam mixed with rice and had some put around each trap. This is Saturday issue day for the boys. Each one gets a tin of meat, a piece of soap, a box of matches and two sticks of tobacco. Temperatures: min. 23¾ c., max. 29½ c. Overcast most of day. Wind SE. Had good luck with bat shooting this evening. Got a Pipistrellus and two Myotis. Nothing new but I had shot only one of the latter up to now. The evening became quite clear just before sunset, and all the bats flew late compared with what they've been doing the rainy spell just past. They did not appear until quite seven. The big fruit bats started passing over however about a quarter to, but very high, far out of gun range. They, during the wet weather have flown rather lower. Tonight too they were much more scattered than they are usually. Didn't see any bats that looked like the red one I shot last night. Counting up my catalogue, I find that I have collected just over 400 bats, of which about a hundred are in formalin. Then I must have around 300 marsupials, which leaves 600 to take care of the rodents. Sun. Dec. 20. No rain last night. Catch 3 old, 3 young R. ringens. Just heard from VHW5 (Oroville) that a search party is being organized to look for Adamson and Champion who went in last April with a party of police and carriers to patrol the country to W and N of Mt. Leonard Murray which we saw from the air at 10,000 feet. It was evidently a heavily populated area, and in the midst of bad, rough limestone country. Moreover it was brand new country, and brand new people. It certainly is not a region I would have liked to go into first time. Brown told me that the "Vailala" has been ordered to Kikori from whence the search is to be started to help with transport or anything else. So that may queer her trip out to the west here. Probably shall get another telegram Tuesday about her. Went this morning back to West Creek where I first found the limestone of this region. Traced it up quite a way. It bears away Nw to NNW. The limit reached by the tide is about a mile as the crow flies west of Tarara. And a hundred yards or so west of that the most westerly limestone exposure is found; that is to say, farther west the bed of the creek has not yet cut down to the unweathered rock. Just close below the highest massive limestone, a score of yards only, a tributary comes in over a horizontal ledge of limestone whose beds certainly appear perfectly horizontal. That brook course comes from N. Found a peculiar dried-up mossy-looking growth on many of the lime rocks, which I now think may be a fresh-water sponge colony. Have saved some pieces. Had a number of the boys out bat hunting but they got nothing. At 4 p.m. half a dozen local natives arr'd with a note from Rand to say they have come part way in today and are looking around at the Agonis flats near a water hole (I presume a couple of hours out), and will be in tomorrow. Am sending back the bush people with three of our extra boys to help him, as he requests. Temp.; min. not taken, max. 31¾ c. Mon. Dec. 21. Catch poor: 4 R. ringens, 1 Melomys muscalis Heavy shower early lasted until 8.30 a.m. Wind W. Rand and Brass got in a few minutes after I had had my lunch. They report a fairly successful trip. They got me three mammals not yet in my collection for this station: Phalanger maculatus, 3 psecimens; Dactylopsila, 1 specimen; and a Murid which may well be generically new. The Dactylopsila came from the Rouka side of their camp. The new rat from between them and Mibene (their camp was at Penzara). The three cuscuses from the Rouka side also.