April, '13] VAN DINE: SUGAR CANE INSECTS 255 



locally as ''el Judio," Crotophaga ani and "el chango" or "mozam- 

 bique," Holoqiiiscalus brachijHerus, determined by Prof. H. W. Hen- 

 shaw of the Bureau of Biological Survey. Dr. Stahl in his "Fauna 

 de Puerto-Rico" (page 199) records the wasp, Catnysomeris dorsata 

 Fabr., under the name Scolia dorsata Fabr. and the wasp, Elis sexcinda 

 Fabr., under the name Myzine sexcinda Fabr. 



The mole-cricket, Scapteriscus didadylus Latr., known locally as "la 

 changa," is common over all the island and is injurious to practically 

 all cultivated plants. Because of the widespread injury of this insect 

 and the variety of its food-plants, it is the most commonly known in- 

 sect pest in Porto Rico. Fortunately, the injury to sugar cane by the 

 mole-cricket is restricted to the germinating seed cane cuttings and to 

 the young shoots, that is, it does not feed upon sugar cane during the 

 entire growth of the plant. The insect eats into the seed cane after 

 planting and destroys the eye or, more commonly, eats into the base of 

 the young shoot, just beneath the surface of the ground. The symp- 

 tom of the injury is very similar to that caused by the work of the sugar- 

 cane beetle, Ligyrus rugiceps Lee, in young cane in the southern United 

 States. As soon as the young cane shoot has attained some height, 

 and has hardened somewhat, the mole-cricket does not appear to 

 damage the crop further. A further restriction to injury by the mole- 

 cricket is the fact that the insect can work readily only in sandy or 

 loose soils and the cane planted in the heavier clay soils escapes ser- 

 ious injury. The alluvial deposits along river banks and the loose, 

 sandy soils on a plantation are known as "changa" lands, Seiior 

 Fernando Lopez Tuero, in his report previously referred to, states that 

 the term "la changa" is the name used in Porto Rico for the reason that 

 the head and fore part of the insect are the shape of a monkey. Senor 

 Tuero says, regarding natural enemies: (Translation) "In the natural 

 struggle for existence, the lizard, which is so abundant in the fields, is 

 an important factor in the destruction of the mole-cricket. The mole- 

 cricket's safeguard consists in its staying hidden during the day, but 

 those which come out of the ground, or, which for any reason, are dis- 

 covered by their enemy, die immediately. 



"Birds and domestic fowls also eat many insects when they are able 

 to find them. The fowls of the plantation, in hunting for their living, 

 always follow the furrow of the plow in order to eat the larvae of insects 

 and, when they find a mole-cricket, they rush upon it and devour it 

 with preference. The 'mozambique', and many other birds, have the 

 habit of following the furrow of the plow." 



The sugar-cane mealy-bug, Pseudococcus sacchari CklL, is found on 

 every sugar-cane plantation in the island. It attacks the cane through- 

 out its growth but the most seriou^injury noted has been to the roots 



