180 
MICROLEPIDOPTERA OF NEW GUINEA 
having a sturdily built and densely haired body; perhaps these features 
form some adaptation to their high-elevated habitat. However, Lief- 
tinck’s conclusion is that a true alpine fauna is absent; one endemic 
genus and six endemic species recorded point towards the juvenile 
character of the fauna of this region. The surmised relationship of Oreagrion 
with a genus from the Andes, as postulated by Ris, appeared to be caused 
by a superficial resemblance only. 
Toxopeus (1950) comes to the same conclusion with regard to the 
Lepidoptera. “Many Heterocera were collected there, but this may be 
due to collecting them being much easier in the open than in the thick 
forests somewhat lower down. As a matter of fact, many moths that were 
collected near Lake Habbema at 11000’, were also met with in the Moss 
Forest Camp 2000’ below the former camp. In three months during a good 
sunny season we collected the poor number of eight species of butterflies 
and only four of them were characteristic of the Lake’s environment. 
“One of these, a Satyrid, was not observed lower down and above 
13000’ not a single butterfly was ever seen. Similar things are found in 
Hymenoptera, Orthoptera, and so on.” 
Charles P. Alexander had the same experience when studying the 
Tipulidae of the Expedition: a veritable alpine fauna of these insects also 
seems to be absent. 
As a specialized fauna flourishes at alpine heights in Europe, Asia and 
other continents, its absence from the Snow Mountains is singular. 
Toxopeus (loc. cAt.) tries to explain this fact by drawing a parallel 
between the occurrence of the Rhopalocera, and the recent data on 
Geology of New Guinea. According to the geologists Feuilletau de 
Bruyn (1921) and van Bemmelen (1939) the Snow Mountain Range is of 
a young geological age; its elevation must have begun in the Mio-Pliocene, 
but the actual rise of Mount Wilhelmina must be as early as the beginning 
of the Pleistocene. Toxopeus argues that the juvenile character of this 
range accounts for the absence of true alpine butterflies : the time elapsed 
since the creation of this range was not long enough for their development. 
Our experiences with regard to the Microlepidoptera collected in this 
elevated region partly confirm the supposition of the young age of the 
fauna in question; at the other hand, however, the collection of the 
Expedition contains a small number of forms of such a remarkable 
character, that it seemed worth while to dedicate a separate chapter to 
this subject. 
As said above three collecting stations of the Expedition may be 
considered in connection with the conception of an alpine — or subalpine 
— fauna. They are: Lake Habbema, where most of the collecting was 
done at an altitude of 3250 meters but with surrounding hills reaching 
up to 3400 meters; Letterbox Camp about 4 kilometers east of Mount 
Wilhelmina, at 3560 meters, where the collecting was done at 3500 and 
