16 

 NATURAL CONTROL. 



The natural control of the changa, that is, its reduction to unim- 

 portant numbers by natural enemies, either parasitic or predacious, 

 is obviously a failure in Porto Kico. The insect has numerous ene- 

 mies, but their combined efforts are not sufficient to hold the mole 

 cricket in check. 



PARASITES. 



In Cuba an unidentified Tiphia (10) has been reported as a prob- 

 able parasite of the changa, but it has been found only once. It was 

 recovered from a changa burrow with portions of a mole cricket's 

 exoskeleton worked into the cocoon. In Georgia, a tachinid fly is 

 said to parasitize impoverished females, but this is more a scavenger 

 than a parasite (54, p. 261). * 



No parasitic enemies of the changa have been reported from Porto 

 Rico. Two eighth-stage females kept in confinement during the 

 breeding work were found after death to contain vast numbers of 

 nematodes. These individuals had a peculiar "slick," greasy ap- 

 pearance for some weeks before they died. Prof. Henry B. Ward, 2 

 of Urbana, 111., to whom one of the changas was referred, stated that 

 there was little doubt that the nematode in question is a true para- 

 site, but that identification of the material was impossible. 



PREDACIOUS ENEMIES. 



Insects, myriapods, reptiles, etc. Several vertebrates and inverte- 

 brates feed upon changas in all stages; some, because of their noc- 

 turnal or subterranean habits, probably are important enemies of the 

 mole cricket. 



The common centipede (Scolopendra cdternans) 3 probably occa- 

 sionally feeds on the mole cricket. Its nocturnal habits, its liking 

 for locations beneath boards and stones where changa burrows 

 most frequently come to the surface of the ground, and its very 

 rapid movements in attack, together with its generally carnivorous 

 habits, make it very likely that this myriapod feeds on changas under 

 natural conditions. In the insectary, on more than one occasion, a 

 centipede entered the flat rectangular cages in which. mated pairs 

 of changas were confined and devoured the insects. Centipedes in 

 captivity .killed changas as fast as they were offered, far in excess 

 of their food needs. The myriapod strikes and coils itself about its 

 victim with great rapidity, generally attacking on the side behind 



1 Also correspondence from Mr. W. V. Reed, Nov. 17, 1916. 

 * Letter of Mar. 1, 1917. 



8 Determination made through the kindness of Mr. Roy W. Miner, American Museum of 

 Natural History, New York. 



