

THE CHANGA OR WEST INDIAN MOLE CRICKET. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Importance 3 



Classification and synonymy 4 



Page. 

 Natural control 16 



Artificial control. . . 20 



History and distribution 41 General remarks on control measures 24 



General habits C Summary 24 



Feeding habits and food plants 7 Acknowledgments 25 



Description oi adult S Bibliography 25 



Life history 10 





IMPORTANCE. 



The most serious insect pest of general agriculture in Porto Rico 

 is the West Indian mole cricket (Scapteriscus vicinus) or "changa," 

 as it is popularly called on this island. The latter name is 

 derived from the fancied resemblance of the insect's head to that 

 of a monkey (chango). Although other insects may be more de- 

 structive to special crops, as, for example, white grubs to sugar cane 

 and flea beetles (Epitrix spp.) to tobacco, the changa causes such 

 serious damage to agriculture in general that it takes first rank 

 as an insect depredator. Barrett in 1902 (2, p. 5) 1 stated that "the 

 changa's damages to tobacco, cane, and small crops in the island 

 amount to probably more than $100.000 annually." Improved con- 

 trol measures have greatly reduced the loss to cane and especially 

 to tobacco since that time. It is to the general gardener that the 

 changa now does most harm. It should be recognized, however, that 

 much damage done to miscellaneous crops by other crickets and by 

 cutworms is mistakenly attributed to the changa, which, on account 

 of its conspicuous size, is well known to even the most casual observer. 



The mole cricket is found in neighboring tropical countries having 

 about the same soil and climatic conditions as Porto Rico, but it is 

 only in this island that the insect has become of serious importance in 

 agriculture. Possibly some very effective parasite, as yet undis- 

 covered, holds it in check in its other habitats, or, perhaps, a com- 

 bination of circumstances, such as suitable soil conditions, favorable 

 cultivation methods, and absence of certain predacious enemies, is 

 the cause of the insect's greater destructiveness in Porto Rico. 



1 Figures in parentheses refer to the bibliography found on pp. 25-28 ; other figures refer 

 to footnotes. 



(3) 



