27 



REPORT OF A COLLECTING TRIP TO NORTH-EASTERN 

 QUEENSLAND DURING APRIL TO SEPTEMBER, 1889. 



By Messrs. E. J. Cairn & R. Graxt. 



( Abridged from their Report to the Ciirator.) 



Dr. Ramsay's instructions to us on leaving Sydney were to make 

 our way if possible to the higher peaks of the Bellenden-Ker 

 range and Mt. Bartle-Frere on the eastern fall, and to endeavour 

 to obtain specimens of all Mammals, especially Dendrolagus, and 

 to collect Birds, Insects, &c. 



We left Sydney on the 12th April, and arrived at Cairns on 

 the 20th inst. The rain was exceptionally late this season, for 

 instead of commencing as usual in December, it had only really 

 set in a fortnight or so before our arrival, so that to have gone 

 into the ranges would have been useless. We therefore collected 

 in the neighbourhood of Cairns for some weeks when the weather 

 would permit, and made a camp about sixteen miles north of 

 Cairns (Double Island) for a fortnight, hoping to get a new Lyre- 

 Bird that was reported to have been shot there. We obtained a 

 fair number of Birds and Insects, several amongst the latter we 

 understand will prove new. The P. archeri however was the 

 only Mammal shot or seen. 



On the 30th June we returned to Cairns, where we shipped all 

 our gear and started for Boar Pocket on the Cairns-Herberton 

 Road. We fixed on this place for a camp, as provisions are 

 obtainable near, and the rivers Russell, Mulgrave, Johnson, and 

 Barron head at no great distance. It is a patch of forest country 

 about a square mile in extent surrounded by a dense vine scrub. 



On making enquiries we found that the natives had been 

 brought in by the police at Atherton, a township on the other 

 side of the Barwon River, ten miles from our camp, and they 

 were also in on the Russell River diggings. We obtained the 

 assistance of two or three with their gins, and had them attached 

 to the camp until the murders on the Russell were committed. 

 They proved exceedingly useful, and without their help we could 

 not have collected so large a number and variety of animals. 

 We never saw Pseudochirus leimiroides and P. herhertensis until 

 they hunted them out, these species being apparently strictly 

 nocturnal. 



We found Pseudochirus lenniroides (native name " Yappi) in 

 holes high up, visually on good sized trees. They are exceedingly 

 active when disturbed, running and jumping along the tree tops, 

 at times taking prodigious leaps from tree to tree. In this they 

 resemble a flying squirrel but do not make such an easy slope, 



