RELATION OF MAMMALS TO INSECTS 133 



grasshopper mice. 42 The pocket mice destroy some grasshoppers, 43 and 

 these insects were found in stomachs of an Arizona form of white- 

 footed mouse. 44 



Bears are very fond of insects, and may be seen tearing open nests 

 of bees, wasps and other insects and turning over logs in search of 

 beetles, ants and larvae. Stomachs have been found filled with May-flies 

 and shad-flies. 46 Coyotes often eat locusts and other insects. 46 Foxes 

 on Santa Cruz Island were found to be feeding principally on insects. 47 

 One badger's stomach contained bumblebees and their honeycomb. 48 

 Woodchucks have been known to eat quantities of June beetles. 49 Cot- 

 tontail rabbits are reported to eat cocoons of cecropia moths. 60 The 

 house cat, ring-tailed cat, jackal, aardwolf, lemur, and various species 

 of monkeys are known to sometimes eat insects. 61 The skunk, raccoon, 

 mole, coyote, fox, opossum, ground squirrel, short-tailed shrew, badger 

 and domestic pig are all listed as enemies of the troublesome white 

 grubs. 62 



The mammalian enemies of ants have been discussed at some length 

 by Bequaert, especially certain species of monotremes, marsupials, 

 edentates, mongooses, bears and chimpanzees, 53 but he does not men- 

 tion the smaller Rodentia, Mustelidae and other well-known insect 

 eaters, which perhaps do not relish ants particularly. 



The best summary we have seen of the economic relations of mam- 

 mals to insects is that of McAtee, as follows: 64 



Among mammals we have some highly insectivorous groups, as the bats, shrews 

 and moles. The exact nature of the food of bats is little known, but it includes 

 all sorts of flying insects of sizes these animals can swallow, including mos- 

 quitoes, but the latter certainly to no such extent as has sometimes been 



42 Burnett, ibid., p. 8, 1918. 



43 Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 49, p. 119, 1926. 



44 Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 3, p. 64, 1890. 



"Hewitt, The conservation of the wild life of Canada, pp. 108-110, 1921. Bailey, 

 N. Amer. Fauna, No. 49, p. 191, 1926. 



46 Hewitt, ibid., p. 225. 



47 Henshaw, Ann. Kept. Chief of Engineers, U. S. Dept. War, for 1876, Part 3, 

 p. 526. 



48 Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 5, p. 85, 1891. 



49 Gianini, Journ. Mammalogy, vi, 281-282, 1925. 



00 Bird, Cottontail rabbits are insectivorous, Journ. Mammalogy, xi, 240, 1930. 



51 Dimmock, Amer. Naturalist, xvm, pp. 941-942, 1884. Bailey, Animal life in 

 Carlsbad Cavern, p. 105, 1928. Lantz, U. S. Biol. Surv. Bull. No. 20, 1905. Drake- 

 Brockman, The mammals of Somaliland, pp. 7, 38, 46, 1910. 



52 Davis, Bull. Illinois State Lab. Nat. Hist., xm, 53-138, 1919; Journ. Mammalogy, 

 i, 44, 1919. 



03 Bequaert, The predacious enemies of ants, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., XLV, 

 1922; mammalian enemies on pp. 315-331. 



M McAtee, The role of vertebrates in the control of insect pests, Ann. Kept. 

 Smithsonian Institution for 1925, pp. 416-417. 



