6 



damage are not uncommon there. It is not known to occur in 



Louisiana. 



The changa has been found in St. Croix, 1 but is so rare there that 

 no noticeable damage has resulted. It is not known to be pres- 

 ent in Santo Domingo, although Haiti is listed in its range. "A 

 species of mole cricket, said to be the same as the Porto Rican changa. 

 appeared in such numbers in Venezuela several years ago that the 

 cultivation of cane had to be abandoned." (20, p. 348.) 



The present known distribution of the changa is as follows: 

 Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Cuba, Haiti, Costa Rica, Panama, Porto 

 Rico, & Culebra Island (P. R.), St. Croix, St. Vincent. St. Lucia, Trini- 

 dad, Barbados, 2 French and Dutch Guiana, Brazil, Uruguay, Argen- 

 tina, and Peru. 



GENERAL HABITS. 



The changa is essentially a subterranean insect, as all its develop- 

 mental stages are spent in burrows. These burrows when just be- 

 neath the surface of the ground may be traced with ease as raised 

 lines of broken earth winding about promiscuously. The insect sel- 

 dom leaves its burrows, and then generally at night. During the 

 day an adult is occasionally seen scurrying over the ground, but it 

 soon enters the soil. 



As may be expected from the mechanical difficulties to be overcome 

 in burrowing through a heavy soil, the changa is never found in 

 heavy clay lands, but in light, loamy soils. As a result the insect is 

 much more abundant in the alluvial lands of the coast and in the 

 inland river valleys than in the mountainous parts of the island, the 

 soils of which are for the most part heavy clay. It is particularly 

 abundant in light, compressible soils which allow tunnelling without 

 the removal of loosened material. The insect avoids tunnelling on 

 very sloping land, doing most of its work on level areas, although 

 in very heavily infested territory even hilled-up plants are damaged. 

 The galleries dug by the changa are more or less permanent in the 

 heavier, loamy soils, and are used by all the changas in the immediate 

 vicinity. The insect responds to moisture changes, as in the dry sea- 

 son its tunnels are carried to a depth of some 12 inches, while during 

 the rainy season they are to be found usually within 4 inches of the 

 surface, the depth at which the egg chamber is placed varying similarly 

 with the season. A prolonged drought often causes an overland 

 migration of adults and nymphs under cover of night to more favor- 

 able breeding and feeding grounds. 



1 According to Mr. Holger Johansen, for some years a resident of that island. 

 Correspondence from Mr. Wm. Nowell, Nov. 10, 1916. 



