  Spectrum and electric dipole transition rates and relative intensities in
$^{152-154}$Sm, $^{156-160}$Gd, $^{160-162}$Dy are studied in the framework of
the interacting boson model with s,p,d,f bosons. It is found that E1 transition
data among the low-lying levels are in good agreement with the SU(3) dynamical
symmetry of the spdf interacting boson model proposed by Engel and Iachello to
describe collective rotation with octupole vibration. These results show that
these nuclei have SU(3) dynamic symmetry to a good approximation. Also in this
work many algebraic expressions for electric dipole transitions in the SU(3)
limit of the spdf-IBM have been obtained. These formulae together with the
formulae given previously exhaust nearly all the E1 transitions for low-lying
negative parity states. They are useful in analyzing experimental data.
