21 
REPORT OF A COLLECTING TRIP TO NORTH-EASTERN 
QUEENSLAND DURING APRIL TO SEPTEMBER, 1889. 
By Messrs. E. J. Cairn & R. Grant. 
(Abridged from their Report to the Curator .) 
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. W e 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 
u 
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 B arw t m 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 lemur oides and P. herbertensis until 
they hunted them out, these species being apparently strictly 
nocturnal. 
We found Pseudochirus lemuroides (native name u Yappi) in 
holes high up, usually 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, 
