32 
The Queensland Naturalist February, 1937 
the jungle and forest. As 1 have known and visited this 
spot many times during the last thirty-five years, it may 
be of interest to record that on the right or eastern bank 
the jungle has advanced something like a hundred yards, 
whilst on the opposite bank it has remained stationary. 
One would certainly be justified in expecting the oppo- 
site, as where the scrub has advanced it is rough hilly 
country ; on the other hand, the left bank is a deep allu- 
vial sandy loam with bloodwood ( Eucalyptus corym- 
kosa) and Glochidion Ferdinandi (this latter is to some 
extent a fire resister, i.e., it shoots out from the roots 
after the stem has been killed by bush fires), and a dense 
growth of Blady grass ( Imperata arundinacea) , which 
is fired every year. These fires have evidently prevented 
the rain forest species from occupying this area. The 
grass of the hillside is principally Clitoris unispicea, with 
Aristida gracilipes, which produce much less herbage, 
and thus a weaker fire. The Paper-bark tea trees are 
also giving way, as only large aged trees are seen, the 
juveniles of the rain forest species apparently receiving 
the greater position of nature’s favours. Prominent 
among these is pink Kamala (M allot us philippinensis) 
with Grey Birch or Scrub Ironbark (Bridelia exaltata ), 
Canthium ( C . coprosmoides) , and Diospyros australis , the 
two last being drought resistant to some extent and very 
common on higher ground. 
The rain forest is between three hundred and four 
hundred acres in extent, very irregular in outline, with 
the creek traversing it in an oblique direction. High 
ridges — in places far above the tops of the trees in the 
rain forest — penetrate the rain forest on the western 
side. These are covered with a fairly dense forest of 
Red Ironbark ( Eucalyptus siderophloia) , with a thick 
undergrowth of Acacia f dicat a. The creek which twines 
and turns, only equalled by the lianas which grow on its 
banks, travels over a mile in what would be less than a 
third of the distance in a direct line. Having reached its 
bare level, it wanders from side to side until some flood 
cuts a new channel, filling up the old bed with sand and 
debris to provide a nursery for some future generations 
of trees, shrubs, etc. At the beginning of this century, 
numerous water holes could be found, but mose of them 
at the present time are filled with sand, so that very little 
water is available for the birclsf and mammals which make 
their homes here. Tt may be of interest to note here that 
during the severe drought of 1902 several water holes 
could be found where birds of many species congregated, 
yet now we find, in spite of several years of more than 
