HOT FOR PUBLICATIOIT 



Speaking lime : 10 Minutes. 



AIuTOUIICEiEIlT: And nor? for another visit with Uncle Saa' s ITaturalists of the 

 United States Department of Acricult-ure, As us-ual, your T7ildsman calls our 

 attention to some of the facts about wild life as he picks them up from 

 Department specialists T7ell, Ilr, TTildsman, nhat is it this time? 



We've all been hearing the "!.Iarch of the Grasshoppers" recently. A 

 devastating pla^e sweeping through the ITorthwost has given us a terrible 

 demonstration of what a big insect outbreak means when conditions are right 

 for it. 



But I*n not going to talk about that all-devouring host of grasshoppers. 

 I just mention it in passing, by way of illustration of the importance of some 

 other things. 



Such serious scourges caused by tremendous mailtiplication of this or 

 that pest might happen oftener but for the forces of nature which tend to keep 

 such things in control. Of course, the weather is generally the big fa,ctor in 

 the case of grasshoppers, but there are a number of other forces, not the least 

 of which is our old friend, the much-despised skunk. 



A lot of people have always held skunlcs in bad odor, but skunks do 

 yeoman service in destroying grasshoppers. Specialists of the Bureau of 

 Biological S-arvey, who have inside information on the subject, tell me that in 

 July, A\3^st, and September, when grasshoppers are most abundant, they form 

 the chief food of slamks. In fact, during some of the previous invasions of 

 OTor plains country by grasshoppers the slcunk was credited with being the 

 principal raannal destroyir^g those insects. 



But grasshoppers are not the only d-ninaging crop insect on the skunk* s 

 bill-of-f arc. The skunk is also the best-known mammal enemy of army worm, 

 the common amy worm, the wheat-head army worm, ajid the fall amy worm, which 

 arc so destructive to sm<Tll grains, and com, ajid grasses. 



Skunks arc fond, too, of the insects known as tobacco worms which do so 

 much damage to tobacco rjid tomato pl.'uits. Ij^ fact, they eat a groat number of 

 insects aiid mostly the kinds that arc highly damaging to plant life, such as 

 cutworms, cicadas, crickets, and beetles injurious to sweet potatoes in the 

 South. 



