ECONOMIC VALUE OF NORTH AMERICAN SKUNKS. 11 



this animal and generally regard it with favor, although occasionally 

 in its eager search for grubs it may uproot a plant, or do slight damage 

 by eating a few berries. As white grubs commonly remain in the 

 ground three years before emerging as mature beetles, each in this 

 time can destroy much vegetation. They are quite secure from 

 ordinary enemies. Except the crow, robin, and a few other species, 

 birds find only those turned up in cultivation; the skunk, locating 

 them by its sense of smell, digs them out of the ground. 



Besides the larva^ skunks eat also many mature "May beetles," 

 or "June bugs." 



SKUNKS AND THE HOP GRUB. 



Hop growers in New York, Michigan, and elsewhere have serious 

 losses from the depredations of the hop-plant borer, or hop grub. 

 That the skunk is the only efficient natural enemy of this moth has 

 been attested by nearly all entomologists who have written about 

 the insect. The skunk is said to listen at the base of the hop vine, 

 thus locating the larvse at work. All hop growers value the skunk's 

 services, and it was mainly through their efforts that legislation 

 protecting this animal was first enacted in New York. 



SKUNKS AND GRASSHOPPERS. 



In July, August, and September, when grasshoppers are most 

 abundant, they constitute the chief food of skunks, which consume 

 enormous quantities. During the disastrous invasions of the Rocky 

 Mountain locust in the plains country in 1873 and 1874 the skunk was 

 reported as the principal mammal that destroyed these insects. As 

 other species of grasshoppers are always abundant and sometimes 

 extremely destructive to crops, the constant services of skunks in 

 checking their increase should not be forgotten. 



OTHER INSECTS EATEN BY SKUNKS. 



Except a few Hymenoptera and predatory beetles, nearly all the 

 insect food of skunks consists of kinds injurious to plant life. Among 

 them are cutworms, cicadas, crickets, sphinx moths, and a beetle 

 injurious to sweet potatoes in the South. 



Skunks are among the few animals that prey on the Colorado potato 

 beetle. Conway McMillan stated that "they consider the beetle a 

 delicate morsel and spend many a busy evening in potato patches 

 catching and eating the larvae and the mature beetles." 1 



SKUNKS AND SMALL RODENTS. 



Although other mammals, including coyotes, badgers, foxes, minks, 

 and weasels, do far more good by destroying noxious rodents than is 

 generally realized, the skunk surpasses them all. It is sufficiently 



i Report Nebraska State Board of Agriculture, 1887, p. 280. 



