PROPOSED JOURNAL OP ANVIMAL ECOLOGY 
 
Research on Animal Ecology and its publication. 
   The increasing number of papers dealing with animals submitted to 
the Editor of The Journal of Ecology and for which there is no space, has

brought into prominence the problem of finding means for their publication.

At present such papers are published in a number of different British journals

(as may be seen from the abstracts of papers on animal ecology which 
appear in The Journal of Ecology). Their number is increasing, and will un-

doubtedly increase even more rapidly in the near future. It therefore appeared

to the Council of the British Ecological Society that steps ought to be taken

now to make adequate provision both for centralising to some extent the 
widely scattered papers on animal ecology that are now being produced, and

also, by planning well ahead, to anticipate the future development of the

subject, which runs a real risk of becoming split unnaturally into isolated

compartments of knowledge attached to special scientific and economic 
spheres, and therefore of losing the advantages which come from the pooling

of ideas and knowledge in a central journal. 
Relation to Economic Ecology. 
    What has been said applies more particularly to papers dealing with 
 population problems in animals (census work, fluctuations in numbers, 
 migration), animal behaviour and allied subjects. Authorities on economic

 entomology, marine fisheries, economic ornithology and mammalogy, who have

 been consulted on this matter, are unanimous in their agreement about the

 desirability of centralised publication for animal ecology. This fact is
of 
 importance since so much work on animal ecology is at present subsidised

 directly from economic sources and so forms the greater bulk of the material

 published. 
 Means of Publication. 
    If it were possible to expand The Journal of Ecology very considerably

 the best course might well be to print all papers dealing with animals,
and 
 of a sufficiently high standard, in the existing journal. This course is
not 
 possible for practical reasons connected with the scale of editorial work

 involved and the financial difficulties of getting sufficient members and

 subscribers interested in both animals and plants to support such a greatly

 enlarged and comprehensive journal. 
 A new Journal. 
    After careful consideration, therefore, the Council have decided to launch

 in 1932 a new journal, under the control of the Council of the Society,
but 
 
 
[P.T.O.