72 
The Queensland Naturalist 
April, 1930 
on the western side were all dry beds except low down 
near the foot of the range. Many of the pools were deep 
and contained quantities of Nitella sp. A heavy rain 
storm swept over the eastern slope during the afternoon, 
though there was no sign of rain on the western side. 
Everything seems to point to the fact that much of the 
rain that comes from the south-east falls on the eastern 
side only. The creeks are therefore able to support a 
more luxuriant type of Malayan vegetation, and along 
them the monsoon forest grades into rain forest. Because 
of the dry periods, however, the epiphytes do not flourish 
much more luxuriantly than in the monsoon forest. The 
ridges are occupied by Eucalyptus and Albizzia procera, 
as elsewhere. Along the rugged shore is a dense formation 
of low trees, but this was inaccessible, so could not be 
examined. It probably consisted largely of Careya aus- 
tralis and species of Ficus, low trees found in a similar 
position on Eclipse Island. 
Unimportant ecologically, but. interesting because of 
their bizarrity, are Rhizomorpha harrimanii and Balano- 
phora fungosa, the former in the rain forest, the latter 
in the drier monsoon forest. The Rhizomorpha is a sterile 
fungus growing in mat-like shaggy masses on dead wood 
on tree trunks. Balanophora fungosa, a phanaeroganic 
parasite, attacks the roots of various trees, including. 
Ficus spp. Only one flowering specimen was collected in 
1925, but a large number of specimens in bud were ob- 
tained. In 1926 the long dry spell had apparently checked 
its development, for not a single specimen could be found, 
though the same patch of forest was searched. August 
and September are the normal flowering months else- 
where in North Queensland. 
(To be continued.) 
