  NEUCAL is a neutron detector which is currently under study to be used as a
sub-detector complementing electromagnetic (e.m.) calorimeters for
electron/hadron discrimination in cosmic rays at high energy. Its aim is to
reveal the different yield of neutron production in e.m. and hadronic showers,
not only by counting signals due to their absorption in some sensible detector
after passive moderation, but also looking for signals produced during the
moderation phase. The basic idea and a test of a prototype detector are
discussed in this paper. A first preliminary comparison of experimental data
with simulation is also shown.
