55 
conditions obtain for only one week, that week will limit the conditions of 
the forest formation, 
In N. New Guinea as in Brit. N. Borneo I saw no forest that answered 
to the description of rain-forest.! 
Humboldt Bay. 
This bay forms a most beautiful inlet, broken in outline, surrounded by 
mountains and protected by a small island, on which a very picturesque 
Papuan pile-village with an imposing “spirit house” is situated. As the 
Tidorese never penetrated so far (8, 87) the natives here are still unspoilt in 
primitive condition. The Government Station is at the head of the bay, just 
behind the beach. Ona marshy spot near the “ campong” * Thoracostachyum 
hypolytroides, a sedge with white upper leaves, bracts, and inflorescence, grew 
abundantly. On the banks of the river Gigantochloa novo-quineensis was in 
flower, as at Manokoeari, also *racena angustifolia. We entered the 
“rimbu,” the Contréleur having most kindly found me two Malays who knew 
the forest, on the edge of which a handsome Casuarina with a spreading crown, 
most distinct in habit, was abundant. Ascending the ridge, clothed in fine 
high forest on deep brown soil, we found as undergrowth * Trichomanes 
javanicum var. rhomboideum, * Diplazium maximum, with *Selaginella plumosa, 
creeping, the palms °Licuala montana with red fruit and * Arenga microcarpa, — 
the aroid °Holvuchlamys Beccarii, like a Caladium in habit, and the under- 
trees *Pipturus argenteus and Clerodendron Lindawianum var. glabrescens, 
the latter with handsome white flowers and black fruit, also the climbing 
*Polypodium normale and Calamus humboldtianus. 
Over the crest of the ridge, where great mounds of dead leaves testified 
to Megapode activity in building their nests, we descended by a stream into 
quite a different type of vegetation, one of those sudden changes in 
comparatively small areas, which so constantly characterize the mixed 
tropical forest. 
Along the course of the stream, in which I picked up pure alabaster, 
much fancied by the Papuans for nose-ornaments, * Trichomanes humile was 
found on rocks with * Vittaria elongata, the hanging fronds to 2 m. in length. 
The fungi *Polyporus arcularius and *Hirneola polytricha grew on dead 
wood. 
As undergrowth the handsome °Pteris torricelliana with fronds 1:50 m 
long, and Hypolepis grandifrons on a rhachis about 3 cm. through, bearing 
magnificent single deltoid fronds about 5 m. long, the petiole about 3 m., 
and lamina 2 m. long, rising at intervals from an underground rhizome, was 
1 L. S. Gibbs, “ A Contribution to the Flora and Plant Formations of Mt. Kinabalu and 
the Highlands of Brit. N, Borneo,” Journ, Linn, Soe., Bot. xlii. (1914) 8, 
