16 
The Queensland Naturalist May, 1946 
and lawyer-canes or rattans, flying foxes or fruit bats and 
snakes and frogs. In the mountains the variety and quan- 
tity of native foods become much less. 
The foothill forests of the central mountain range 
are heavy and dense with an undergrowth of shrubs, ferns 
and mosses. As in other parts of New Guinea a domin- 
ating tree is the Tauan (Pometia pinnata). At the base 
of one large tree a peculiar pile of leaves was observed 
about 3ft. in diameter and a foot high. On one side was 
an opening, the entrance to a passage about 2ft. long. It 
looked very fresh and the natives thought it was the work 
of wild pigs, prepared as a, shelter for the night for their 
young. 
At about 1,500 feet altitude oaks ( Quercus spp.) are 
met with for (he first time and a beautiful Rhododendron 
with large pale orange flowers. At a little over 2,000 feet 
a remarkable tree noticed was a giant Pandanus with roots 
developed from the trunk 60-90 feet above the ground. 
At about 4,000 feet Dacrydium is seen, an important coni- 
fer in New Guinea, a genus represented in Australia solely 
by the lluon Pine of Tasmania {Dacrydium Franklinii) . 
L. ,J. Brass, the botanist of three Arch bold Expedi- 
tions, lias described the forests at altitudes of 4,500 to 
10,000 feet as inossy forests and this name is applied by 
Lam to the forests of the mid-mountain slopes of the main 
central range in Netherlands New Guinea. The name is 
apparently very appropriate as the ground and lower part 
of tree trunks are covered with a thick layer of moss, which 
may he up to a foot iu thickness, while branches bear 
isolated cushions frequently of large size. This moss layer 
is a world in itself, being the home of some lower forms of 
animal life such as protozoans and crustaceans. 
On the open ridges, where there are extensive sunny 
areas, the trees are small and there is a large variety of 
shrubs, including species of Rhododendron. Climbing or 
scrambling ferns (species of Gleichenia and Lyg odium ) 
are abundant as is also a scrambling bamboo. Pitcher- 
plants (Nepenthes spp.) are common. 
At the main cam]), about 4,500 feet, the climate was 
characterised by perpetual fogs and rain, and animal life 
was scarce. Among birds were kingfishers and mistletoe 
birds ( Dicacum ) (which, in addition to the fruits of mistle- 
toes, eat t lie ant— plants), cinnamon— coloured pigeons ( Eos 
fuscuta), a parrakeet ( Chaloopsiltucus duivenbodi ) and a 
large black parrot ( Mtcroglossus aterrimus) . Small marsu- 
pials were fairly plentiful, including an opossum ( Phasco - 
