Volume VIII NOVEMBER, 1921 Nos. 3 & 4 



A PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF THE SOIL FAUNA 

 OF AGRICULTURAL LAND 



By PHILIP BUCKLE, M.Sc. (Manch.), 



Lecturer in Agricultural Zoology, Armstrong College, 



Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 



(From the Department of Agricultural Entomology, 



The Victoria University of Manchester.) 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

 1. Introduction. ....... 135 



II. The Survey 137 



III. The effect of Cultivation 141 



IV. Schedules of Species 143 



V. Bibliography 145 



(I) INTRODUCTION. 



It is widely recognised that cultivation has some detrimental effect upon 

 the soil fauna, and various cultural operations are strongly advocated 

 a,s preventive and remedial measures against the depredations of soil 

 insects. However, it is not known whether arable land possesses a 

 characteristic fauna apart from species peculiar to certain crops, or 

 whether certain species, taking grassland as being the immediate initial 

 condition, are eliminated by cultivation. 



Hence it was considered that a survey of the fauna of agricultural 

 land, both arable and grass, might lead to some conclusions as to the 

 effect of cultivation. 



A survey is generally attempted either as a piece of taxonomic work 

 or as an ecological investigation. The taxonomic method has become 

 unpopular since it is an inadequate expression of the work, for all the 

 observation and detail obtained end merely in a classified list of names. 

 At the same time the rise of Ecology has tended to change the view- 

 point. 



Ecology, treating of the general life processes of the animal as opposed 

 to the physiology of organs, has provided an attractive alternative. 

 Unfortunately, however, the subject of Animal Ecology has received 



Ann, Biol, viii 10 



