March, 1918.1 WeISS & DiCKERSON : MOLE CrICKET. 21 



It has further been suggested that the anterior portion of the pro- 

 notum which covers the posterior portion of the head like a hood is 

 used in shaping the gallery. 



The object of the insect in burrowing through the soil is to obtain 

 food, but there is a difference of opinion as to what it prefers. Some 

 writers state that the normal food is vegetable matter while others 

 assert that it is of an animal nature. Whichever mav be the case, 

 the insect is certainly harmful, causing consideralile injury to plants. 

 Van Den Broek and Schenk record it as injurious in truck gardens 

 and nurseries, getting into heated frames and seed beds and destroy- 

 ing carrots and other plants, the roots of which it cuts ofif with its 

 fore legs. Step states that the insect is not entirely vegetarian and 

 probably only very slightly so. He says that while the insect has 

 been accused of eating raw potatoes, it was probably after the insects 

 associated with these vegetables. As indicative of its cannibalistic 

 habits he states that the male has to be kept from the young nymphs 

 and cites the fact that when three male crickets were shipped together 

 with some terrestrial insects and pieces of potato, the terrestrial 

 insects were devoured and two of the mole crickets were injured, 

 while the pieces of potato were untouched. Wood, on the other 

 hand, suggests that the normal food is plant tissue and that much 

 damage is done to root crops where the insect is common. He 

 states, however, that they will eat raw meat and are on occasion 

 cannibals, as the males are quarrelsome and will fight to death, the 

 victor always eating his conquered adversary. 



Another investigator states that they are injurious to root crops 

 but may prey upon underground insects and reports that a Air. Gould 

 "fed a mole cricket for several months upon ants." One Russian 

 investigator found that the mole cricket is useful in destroying the 

 larvae of Mclolontha but concludes that the damage done in fields and 

 orchards outweighs the beneficial work. In Russia, the insect has 

 been recorded as injurious in market gardens, orchards and even 

 forests, attacking tomatoes, cabbage, turnips and other vegetables, 

 hops, tobacco, plum and forest trees. In France similarly, the insect 

 is injurious in market gardens and chicory seedlings, onion and 

 lettuce are cited as particularly sul)ject to injury while rice is men- 

 tioned as being attacked in Italy. 



From these foregoing records, it is very evident that the mole 



