The Bulletin. 57 



Cutworms. The cricket drags the plant after it is cut off into its 

 tunnel. By this means the work of this insect may be readily dis- 

 tinguished from the work of Cutworms. 



Fig. 44.— Nymph of the Little Brown Burrowing Cricket, 

 enlarged. 



(Photograph by the author.) 



Practically our whole knowledge of this insect as a tobacco pest 



is contained in a letter by Mr. 1ST. H. Paschall, of Kidgeway, Warren 



County, N. C, who writes, complaining of this cricket, under 



date of March 31, 1908, as follows: 



« * * * We have a new brown cricket here that lives in the ground and 

 piles up dirt at its hole something like an ant, that promises to give us a lot of 

 trouble with tobacco which has been transplanted. They cut the plant off and 

 then pull it into their tunnels. It is almost impossible to get a stand where 

 these crickets are in the ground. They are more plentiful this year than I 

 have ever seen them." 



This species of cricket is southern in its distribution, being an 

 inhabitant of the tropics. It seems to prefer fields that have lain 

 bare over winter. It digs small, round tunnels into the bare ground, 

 often to great depths, sometimes as much as 20 inches or more, piling 

 the dirt removed in a little mound to one side of the hole. The in- 

 sect seems to have a voracious appetite, cutting off many plants and 

 dragging them to its tunnel. It by no means confines its attention 

 to tobacco, but seems to eat any green food available. It is espe- 

 cially troublesome, according to Mr. Paschall, to plants such as cab- 

 bage, collards, tomatoes, and tobacco, which are transplanted early. 

 Dr. Howard reports a case in South Carolina where this species bo- 

 came very injurious to early cotton. 



