15 



A NOTE ON AGRICULTURAL OECOLOGY 

 IN MID-WALES. 



By C. L. WALTON, M.Sc. 



{Departments of Agricidtiire and Zoology, University College 

 of Wales, Aberystwyth.) 



During the progress of the Survey of Agricultural Zoology which 

 I recently carried out in the Aberystwyth Area, some interesting and 

 instructive inter-relations between wild and domesticated animals were 

 noted. 



The more natural conditions prevailing over large portions of Mid- 

 Wales permit such interaction to be noted with greater readiness than 

 would be the case in closely cultivated areas, where conditions are more 

 controlled. 



In the instances about to be given the main factors are : 



(1) The distribution of the rabbit, which depends largely upon 

 the physical conditions, and human control (which afi'ects their relative 

 abundance). 



(2) The Sheep Industry, which is profoundly under the influence 

 of the local custom of transhumance, involving the movement, twice 

 yearly, of great numbers of sheep between upland and lowland. 



(3) The abundance of foxes (a condition again somewhat in- 

 fluenced by the War). 



(4) The number of sheep dogs kept; often excessive and insuffi- 

 ciently controlled. 



In additio]! to the above are : 



(5) The Poultry Industry. 



(6) Hunting. 



(7) The Sheep disease "Gid," due to the cysts of the parasitic 

 Tape Worm Taenia coenurus, of which the hosts are the dog and the 

 sheep. 



(8) The distribution of the polecat, which is closely linked with 

 that of the rabbit. 



