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II- — The Insect Association of a Local Environmental Complex in the District of 
Holmes Chapel, Cheshire. By Alfred E. Cameron, M.A., D.Sc. (Aberd.), M.Sc. 
(Viet.) ; Field Officer, Entomological Branch, Department of Agriculture, 
Canada ; late Government Scholar of the Department of Agricultural Entomo- 
logy, Manchester University. Communicated by Prof. R. Stewart MacDougall. 
(With Two Plates.) 
(MS. received March 16, 1916. Read May 1, 1916. Issued separately April 4, 1917.) 
CONTENTS. 
PAGE 
Introduction 37 
Physiography and Topography . . . . 39 
The Plant Environment and its Relation to Insects 40 
Physical Factors of the Environment ... 43 
The Insect Association 49 
PAGE 
Soil- Insect Census 54 
Summary 60 
Tables I-XII 61-78 
Plates I— II 78 
Introduction. 
That there is a decided need for the ecological study of insects and other animals 
was first brought home to the mind of the author whilst engaged upon the subject of 
a “ General Survey of the Insect Fauna of the Soil” (vide Jour. JEcon. Biol., vol. viii, 
part 3, 1913). Much information has been collected at various times by numerous 
authors, and especially those who have treated of the habits and behaviour of 
animals, but very little attempt has been made to systematise the data variously 
gathered, to explain the cause and effect of many obscure phenomena, or to make 
important observations accessible for the use of the animal ecologist. Thus, at 
present, we find ourselves on the threshold of practically a new and undisputed field, 
with opportunities for original and interesting research extending in innumerable 
directions. Dr C. C. Adams, now of Syracuse University, New York, who has 
written a most useful work,* “ the outgrowth of the effort as it has developed in the 
study and teaching of animal ecology,” in which is listed most of the literature 
applicable to the science, says (p. 10) : “The associational is the phase of animal 
activity which may be considered as the form of animal behaviour which has 
developed into the human social relations,” and concludes that, because of the social 
character of human society, those interested in matters pertaining to the welfare of 
mankind, such as the sociologist, the physician, the sanitarian, and the agriculturist, 
will ultimately participate in a keener appreciation of the associational aspect. In 
another place the same author indicates briefly the magnitude of the problems 
involved when he says (p. 15) : “ The aim of the ecologist is professedly genetic or 
explanatory, because it is the study of responses to all conditions of the complete 
* Adams, C. C., Guide to the Study of Animal Ecology, New York, 1913, 183 pp., 7 figs. 
TRANS. ROY. SOC. EDIN., YOL. LII, PART I (NO. 2). 
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