On the Acarofauna in Soils both inside and outside of the Cave

摘要

References(1) The animals were extracted and researched by the Berlese funnels from the soil inside and outside of the Tanuki-ana Cave, a small cave, located in Akiyoshi plateau, Yamaguchi Prefecturh (Nov. 25. 1956), and of the several small caves at Yanadani-mura, Ehime Prefecture (from Mar. 10 to 15, 1957). Only the mites and a small number of collembola were found in the cave. On the contrary, outside the cave, insects, arachnids, opiliones, pseudoscorpiones, myriapods, crustaceans, annelides and plathelmintes besides the mites and collembola were found From the soil of 1200cc in the Tanuki-ana Cave, 190 individuals ans 15 species belon-ging to 12 families of the mites were found, and from the same quantity of the soils outside of the same cave, 130 individuals and 17 species belonging to 12 families of them (Table 1). The species found bath inside and outfide of the caves were 6 in number. From the soils of every 500cc in all the four caves of Nakakubo district at Yanadani-mura, 35 individuals and 7 species belonging to 4 families were found (Table 2), and from the same quantity of the soil at the outside of Hiura-dô Cave of Nakakubo district, 188 individuals and about 40 spe-cies belonging to 23 families of them (Table 3). The species found both inside and outside of the caves were only 3 species. It is thought that the soil inside of the caves at Nakakubo district is in bad condition to the cave inhabitants in respect of both temperature and food but excluding humidity, while that of the Tanuki-ana Cave is fairly in the best con-dition in respect of temperature, humidity, and food, the last of which is pro-bably carried there by small mammals and the like. The excrements of the bat are to be the important source of nutrition to the cave ilfe, but they wre not found in the caves of the both districts which were studied this time. In the guano of Miniopterus sghreibersii in the best conditions of the humidity at the shiragatake-shin-do Cave, Odamachi, Ehime Prefecture, a plenty of the mites and beetles such as Gamasides, Uropodes and Ptiliid beetles discovered by the writer, July 5, 1958.