Wednesday June 2: Yesterday's collection, mediocre as it was, amounted to over 170 sheets of specimens, and, my presses full and on the drying frames, I spent the day on odd jobs and letter writing. The mail plane (Douglas DC 3) calls at Iron Range Wednesdays on its way from Cairns to T.I. and picks up return mail on Thursdays. Have placed an order with Mrs. M. Armbruest, butcher of Coen, for a weekly supply of fresh and corned beef. The first lot, of very good quality arrived this evening. Fresh beef costs 8d per pound, corned 6d, plus air freight of about 6d. Really choice sirloin is costing us about 25 cents or less per pound, delivered by air. Thursday June 10: Worked north through the floodplain rainforests of the East Claudie to the junction of Gordon Ck., then followed the creek up to the road. Carried an axe today, and collected four large trees, Panax 19109, Sapotaceae 19111 with large fleshy fruits, Rubiaceae 19114 of the sub- canopy, and Myristica 19115. The undergrowth of the floodplain forests traversed is amazingly poor in species. More undergrowth spp. come in on old alluvial flats elevated above the floods, but still the flora is poor. But for great size of canopy trees, these forests are as spectacular as any I have seen, when large trees are found grouped together. Friday June 11: Except for a large tree of the Proteaceae (19124), today's plants are from the hill savanna forests. Visited the 250 ft. ridge crest of the Iron Range proper on which Jack Gordon's old mine is situated. Con- torted schist formation highly impregnated with iron. The schist is said to be a rather narrow strip with granite to east and west. Gordon's mine is said to have produced over $100,000 worth of gold. It was abandoned in 1942. The machinery and even the top timbering of the main shaft was removed for military purposes during the war. The gold occurs in the schist lode formation and is too fine to see. Con- nell and Holmes are now working a show on the same line of lode, about 50 yards to the north of Gordons. In their show, rich specimen gold is got in small blobs and leaders of quartz. Gordon's mine was richest on top, and petered out at round about 150 ft. Some of the surface stone returned as much as ounces per ton. The iron ore is reserved by the Commonwealth Government. Before World War II, when Japan was scouring the world for iron and steel, Iron Range was inspected by one Umeda and the Japs tried to get a concession for its development. Current local talk is that the ore assays 32per cent iron, and that the Japs reckoned on shipping pig from Portland Roads at a production cost of 10/- per ton. On surface indications the quantity of ore is enormous. Mammal results are looking up. We now have from the area about half dozen spotted cus-cus. Last night Van shot a large female Phalanger ORIENTALIS; previously known from New Guinea and from the Rocky Scrub, to the south of here. A small Melomys, described from the very tip of the peninsula (Paira) years ago, and found by us at Lake Daviumbu in 1937, has been trapped. Today George and Van have been bat-hunting in No. 3 adit of Gordon's mine and collected large Hipposideros diamemi, a small