In order to elucidate the degrading characteristics of the pyrethroid acaricide-insecticide, acrinathrin in two different types of soils, Soil A(pH, 5.8; organic matter, 3.4%; C.E.C., 115 mmol(+)/kg soil; texture, sandy loam) and Soil B(pH, 5.7; organic matter, 2.0%; C.E.C., 71 mmol(+)/kg soil; texture, sandy loam), residualities of the non-labeled compound under the field and laboratory conditions, extractability with organic solvents and formation of non-extractable bound residues, and degradabilities of [$^{14}C$]acrinathrin as a function of aging temperature and aging period were investigated. The half lives of acrinathrin in Soil A treated once and twice were about 18 and 22 days and in Soil B about 13 and 15 days, respectively, in the field, whereas, in the laboratory, those in Soil A and B were about 36 and 18 days, respectively, suggesting that the compound would be non-persistent in the environment. The amounts of $^{14}CO_2$ evolved from [$^{14}C$]acrinathrin in Soil A and B during the aging period of 24 weeks were 81 and 62%, respectively, of the originally applied $^{14}C$ activity, and those of the non-extractable soil-bound residues of [$^{14}C$]acrinathrin were about 70% of the total $^{14}C$ activity remaining in both soils, increasing gradually with the aging period. Degradation of [$^{14}C$]acrinathrin in both soils increased with the aging temperature. Three degradation products of m/z 198(3-phenoxy benzaldehyde), m/z 214(3-phenoxybenzoic acid), and m/z 228(methyl 3-phenoxybenzoate) as well as an unknown were detected by autoradiography of acetone extracts of both soils treated with [$^{14}C$]acrinathrin and aged for 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, and 150 days, respectively, and the degradation pattern of acrinathrin was identical in both soils. Acrinathrin in soil turned out to be degraded to 3-phenoxybenzaldehyde cyanohydrin by hydrolytic cleavage of the ester linkage adjacent to the $^{14}C$ with a cyano group, the removal of hydrogen cyanide therefrom led to the formation of 3-phenoxybenzaldehyde as one of the major products, and the subsequent oxidation of the aldehyde to 3-phenoxybenzoic acid, followed by decarboxylation would lead to the evolution of $^{14}CO_2$.