30 
Psyche 
March 
noted with respect to microgeographic habitat segregation. 
This phenomenon was first observed in the Hube area of 
the Huon Peninsula, where, through a few kilometers dis- 
tance in seemingly uniform mid-mountain forest, dominant 
species of the genera Aphaenogaster (Planimyrma ) , Mera- 
noplus, and Leptomyrmex showed conspicuously irregular 
density patterns. The impression was gained that even 
within the most favored habitats these species showed ir- 
regular density patterns. This type of discontinuous dis- 
tribution is superimposed on the mosaic, habitat-correlated 
microgeographic patchiness, and the two conditions prob- 
ably grade into each other. It can be predicted that super- 
imposition of the two levels of patchiness will result in very* 
irregular and complex individual species distributions, which 
in turn will have a profound effect on the differentiation of 
local faunas at localities separated by as little as a few kilo- 
meters distance. Such an effect was in fact observed in the 
lowland rain forests of the Lae area, as described below 
Differentiation of local faunas in the Lae area. In 1955 
most of the area to the north of Lae and east of the nearby 
Busu River was covered with a mixture of primary and 
secondary rain forest, with occasional savanna enclaves. 
Native villages were not numerous, and native agriculture 
had not made serious inroads into the forest. In the vicinity 
of Bubia, to the northwest of Lae, extensive land was under 
cultivation, partly by the Government Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station, but even here the forest was still partly intact, 
and primary tracts were still accessible 1 . 
1 According to both Mr. Henry G. Eckhoff and Mr. Carl M. Jacobson 
(pers. commun.), who were among the first European settlers of the 
Lae district, extensive clearing of the forests of this area is a compara- 
tively recent event. Prior to 1925 the only European settlement was the 
mission station at Malahang, on the coast near Lae. In 1925 a small 
amount of ground was cleared at Didiman Creek to establish the 
Goverment Agricultural Experimental Station. Between 1925 and 1930, 
further clearing proceeded in the vicinity but was still restricted to the 
present town limits of Lae. Mr. Eckhoff, who arrived in 1928, states 
that in 1929-30, “My wife and I were the only residents of Lae other 
than the air freighting companies. There were no other agricultural 
activities”. The next principal development was the establishment of 
a poultry farm just outside the Lae township by Mr. Jacobson. During 
the Second World War a road was built from Lae through Bubia to the 
airfield at Nadzab. Since 1945 clearing for agricultural purposes has 
proceeded to a limited extent of either side of this road. 
