THE MOLE CRICKET 385 



then water should be poured into the tunnel so as 

 not to overflow, and that the Mole Cricket would 

 then evacuate the nest and die. This, however, 

 assuming the plan to be efficacious, presupposes that 

 the operator will have both the patience and the 

 luck to find the openings to the nests, and for this 

 reason, if for no other, the process is likely to be a 

 slow one. The author of Agricultural Zoology, 

 above referred to, recommends the destruction of 

 the nests in June to begin with, and to be continued 

 later. "In those parts of a field " (he says) " where 

 the plants are yellow or withered in a large circular 

 patch, a yard or so in diameter, the nest may be felt 

 for with the fingers and carefully lifted up so that 

 the eggs do not fall out." Mole Crickets may also 

 be caught by means of flower-pots. The apertures 

 in the bottoms of these are stopped with corks, and 

 they are then sunk in the soil until the rims are on 

 a level with the passages ; they thus serve as pitfalls 

 from which the Mole Crickets are unable to escape. 

 Another plan is to place little heaps of horse-dung 

 on the ground in winter, when the Mole Cricket 

 will creep into them for the sake of warmth, and 

 may then be collected and killed. They appear to 

 be very sensitive to cold, and a severe and dry 

 winter will cause considerable mortality amongst 

 them. Much drought in summer and continuous 

 wet weather are also invariably unfavourable. 



In addition to this, they have their natural 

 enemies, amongst which may be mentioned moles, 

 rooks, starlings, and the larger carnivorous beetles. 

 Those, therefore, who would wage warfare against 



2 B 



