PROCEEDINGS OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR 411

Temperature. In the saw toothed grain beetle (Oryzaephilus surinamensis) and the flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, the intensity of locomotory activity declines with increasing temperature and becomes minimal at 30-35°C. Random movement, which occurs in relatively low tem- peratures, ceases in warmer conditions and this facilitates group formation.

High humidity intensifies decline of locomotory activity at high temperatures in Oryzaephilus. Low humidity. Activity becomes minimal as the moisture content of the grain decreases in

Cryptolestes ferrugineus, a species known to be successful in relatively dry environments.

Interspecific associations. Secondary pests such as Tribolium castaneum have a pattern of be- haviour which results in group formation in areas already occupied by primary pests. Even where no temperature gradients occur it has been found that a high rate of irritability brings this species into contact with primary pests and locomotory activity then ceases in areas of broken and damaged grain.

END OF S Y M P O S I U M

THE IMPORTANCE OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR IN EARLY HUSBANDRY AS DESCRIBED BY WRITERS OF THE 16th TO 18th CENTURIES. By IRENE MORRIS, 12, Atholl Place, Edinburgh.

Most early references to animal behaviour are found in treatises on poultry husbandry. Until the 17th century most such works were based on Columella's description (lst century A.D.) of the highly organised poultry industry of the Roman Empire. Such observations on behaviour as were incidental in these works, although mainly ,accurate, did not emphasise its importance in husbandry. In 158 l, however, Leonard Mascall published his "Government of Poultrie", the first book of its kind by an English writer. He constantly referred to the importance of behaviour and discussed many problems of breeding and social relationships which are being studied today: his statement that if ducklings are reared under a hen the drakes will later wish to mate with hens, is probably the first reference in English to what is now known as imprinting.

From 16th to 18th centuries the great natur- alists like Gessner, Belon, Borelli and the Comte de Buffon were studying avian behaviour, and at the end of the 18th century their findings were specifically related to poultry husbandry by M. Buc'hoz in his "Trfisor des laboureurs darts les oiseaux de basse-cour." He discussed, as Mascall had, such questions as the reasons for infertility in turkeys; and their findings in this and other problems are relevant to modern work. He described the Roman method of making capons brood chickens, by plucking the capon's belly and irritating the bare patch with stinging nettles, and he suggested that the capon found solace for the pain from the brush- ing of the chicken's wings. This would seem, possibly, to be an attempt to emulate the loss of

feathers and oedema which characterise the development of the brood patch in some birds. Buc'hoz described an 18th century experiment in keeping hens in constant heat and humidity, whereby, he states, they lay without interruption for 3-4 years, when production declines rapidly. It is interesting to compare this with Green- wood's findings (1958) on non-pausal laying in a controlled environment.

Mascall also (in a "Book of Trappes") dis- cussed the importance of studying behaviour in order to control pests, and particularly em- phasised this in another treatise on the "taking of moales". In this latter, he states several times that their movements must be watched. His observations on moles are extremely detailed, and are supported by modern investigation: he mentions their seasonal habitat and surfac- ing, their territorial range, their ability to swim and to run backwards, and the fact that the young will not bolt (it is now known that the breeding nest is made without a bolt-hole). Godfrey & Crowcroft (1960) suggest a lull in the activity of moles between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., and Mascall appears to have been aware of this. In his reference to litter numbers, however, there is an interesting divergence. He states that they have "5 or 7" young, but this is consider- ably more than the mode of 4 which Godfrey & Crowcroft give for Britain today, in their table of embryo numbers for Talpa Europaea in several European countries, and is comparable only with the mode of 6 for U.S.S.R. This apparent divergence in numbers between the 16th and 20th centuries suggests that further study along these lines might be valuable,

412 A N I M A L B E H A V I O U R , X I , 2-3

R E F E R E N C E S Bue'hoz, M. (1782). Tr6sor des laboureurs dans les

oiseaux de basse-cour. Paris et Rouen. Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus. De Re Rustica Lib.

VIII. 1st cent. A.D. Dictionary of National Biography, 12, 1289-1290. Lon-

don, 1909. Eisner, E. (1960). The relationship of hormones to the

reproductive behaviour of birds, referring especi- ally to parental behaviour: a review. Anita. Behav., 8, 155-179.

Estienne, Charles (1547). Maison Rustique. Paris.

Godfrey & Crowcroft (1960). The Life of the Mole. London.

Greenwood, A. W. (1958). Long term effects of a con- stant environment. Poult. Sci., 37, 1208.

Lehrman, D. S. (1959). Hormonal responses to external stimuli in birds. Ibis, 101, 478-496.

Mascall, Leonard (1581). The husbandlye ordring and gouernment of Poultrie. London.

Mascall, Leonard (1590). A booke of Engines and traps to take Polcats, Buzardes, Rattes, Mice and all kindes of vermine. . . London.

Maseall, Leonard (1627). The gouernment of Cartel . . . . also perfect instructions for the taking of Moales. London.

THE INFLUENCE OF SURFACE CONTOUR O N THE BEHAVIOUR OF TROUT ALEVINS S. trutta L. By D. H. A. MARR, Freshwater Fisheries Laboratory, Pitlochry.

Surface contour has a marked effect on the locomotor activity of trout alevins from the time of hatching until development is approxim- ately 75 to 80 per cent. complete. The length of time for which individual alevins were active on a grooved surface when illuminated f rom above was frequently increased by more than 100 per cent. when the alevins were transferred to a plain surface. The extent to which the dur- ation of activity was reduced on a grooved surface was dependent on the stage of develop- ment of the alevin and is a function of (1) the width of the yolk sac relative to that of the grooves, (2) the intrinsic level of locomotor activity and (3) the angle of incidence of the longitudinal axis of the embryo to the long axis of the yolk sac.

Reduction in the duration of locomotor activity on a grooved surface in darkness was inferred from the fact that trout alevins aggre- gated on a grooved surface when offered a choice between equal areas of plain and grooved sur- face. Aggregation on the grooved surface in

darkness was due neither to migration along the grooves nor to the fact that the grooves formed a physical barrier which prevented locomotion.

Trout alevins have no static stability in the vertical plane and although movement through water confers dynamic stability in this plane alevins roll over on to the sides of their yolk sacs whenever they stop swimming on a plain surface. Frequently this rolling movement, or the contact of the tail with the substrate result- ing from a pronounced roll, stimulates a further burst of swimming which continues for almost as long as the initial burst. The reduction in locomotor activity on a grooved surface, at least up to the point when development is 50 per cent. complete, is due mainly to the fact that a grooved surface reduces the extent of the rolling movement and thus removes the stimulus which releases further swimming. Any irregular surface which supports the ventro lateral wall of the yolk sac and reduces rolling will also reduce locomotor activity in trout alevins.