October, '15] 



WEISS: EUROPEAN MOLE CRICKET 



501 



portion from France. Inasmuch as it is chiefly Holland and Belgian 

 stock which comes over with soil around the roots and inasmuch as 

 a porton of this is always planted temporarily in the now infested 

 area, it is almost certain that the insect came from one or both of these 

 countries. 



E. Bourcart in "Insecticides, Fungicides and Weedkillers" gives a 

 short account of this species in which he states that it lives almost 

 entirely on insects and their larvae, cutting all roots that hinder it in 

 its search for this food. The winter is passed at various depths, de- 

 pending upon the temperature and amount of moisture present. In 

 the spring it ascends and excavates numerous runs within a few cen- 

 timetres of the surface. Bourcart further states that it takes twelve 

 years for the number of these insects to increase so far as to render 

 culture impossible. The existence of each insect is three years, each 

 female depositing two hundred eggs, but multiplication is compara-' 

 tively slow. 



Other European writers state that the food of the mole cricket con- 

 sists largely of vegetable matter but all agree in that it is cannibalistic 

 at times. According to Bastin, eggs are laid in a specially constructed 

 chamber, the adult caring for them and feeding the young until their 

 first moult, when the family disperses. 



Coming to remedies, Bourcart mentions the use of poisoned pastes, 

 of maize, starch, water and phosphorus, being placed in the burrows 

 and the openings closed. In Italy, liming at the rate of 16 cwt. to 

 the acre is supposed to remove the crickets. Petroleum or a 25 per 

 cent emulsion of petroleum poured into the burrows has also been 

 used in Europe. Ratzeburg, in 1847, advised the injection of oil into 

 the tunnels and afterward sprinkling the surface with water. Bour- 

 cart also mentions the use of naphthaline in the ground as it is being 

 tilled and also raking the soil until the surface is clean, then beating 

 it and adding water if necessary. During the night the mole crickets 

 dig new tunnels which are seen the next morning. These are opened 

 with the fingers and tepid soapy water poured in. 



Worsham and Reed, in Bull. 101 of the Georgia Experiment Sta- 

 tion on Scapteriscus didadylus Latr., advocate for that species the 

 ploughing of breeding areas to destroy the eggs by exposing them to 

 the sun, etc., light traps at certain seasons, compost heap traps dur- 

 ing the winter, poisoned baits made of cottonseed meal and arsenicals, 

 sulphur and naphthaline as repellants and the banding of individual 

 plants by means of tin, paper or wire cylinders. 



The presence of the European mole cricket in New Jersey is simply 

 an example of how impossible it is to keep out all foreign pests by a 

 close inspection of foreign stock. No matter how careful the inspector 

 is, something is bound to get by and cause trouble later on. 



