16 
NATURAL CONTROL. 
The natural control of the changa, that is, its reduction to unim- 
portant numbers by natural enemies, either parasitic or predacious, 
is obviously a failure in Porto Rico. The insect has numerous ene- 
mies, but their combined efforts are not sufficient to hold the mole 
cricket in check. 
PARASITES. 
In Cuba an unidentified Tiphia (10) has been reported as a prob- 
able parasite of the changa, but it has been found only once. It was 
recovered from a changa burrow with portions of a mole cricket's 
exoskeleton worked into the cocoon. In Georgia, a tachinid fly is 
said to parasitize impoverished females, but this is more a scavenger 
than a parasite (54, p. 261). * 
No parasitic enemies of the changa have been reported from Porto 
Rico. Two eighth-stage females kept in confinement during the 
breeding work were found after death to contain vast numbers of 
nematodes. These individuals had a peculiar " slick," greasy ap- 
pearance for some weeks before they died. Prof. Henry B. Ward, 2 
of Urbana, 111., to whom one of the changas was referred, stated.that 
there was little doubt that the nematode in question is a true para- 
site, but that identification of the material was impossible. 
PREDACIOUS ENEMIES. 
Insects, myriapods, reptiles, etc. — Several vertebrates and inverte- 
brates feed upon changas in all stages; some, because of their noc- 
turnal or subterranean habits, probably are important enemies of the 
mole cricket. 
The common centipede (Scolopendra alternans) 3 probably occa- 
sionally feeds on the mole cricket. Its nocturnal habits, its liking 
for locations beneath boards and stones where changa burrows 
most frequently come to the surface of the ground, and its very 
rapid movements in attack, together with its generally carnivorous 
habits, make it very likely that this myriapod feeds on changas under 
natural conditions. In the insectary, on more than one occasion, a 
centipede entered the flat rectangular cages in which mated pairs 
of changas were confined and devoured the insects. Centipedes in 
captivity killed changas as fast as they were offered, far in excess 
of their food needs. The myriapod strikes and coils itself about its 
victim with great rapidity, generally attacking on the side behind 
1 Also correspondence from Mr. W. V. Reed, Nov. 17, 1916. 
* Letter of Mar. 1, 1917. 
8 Determination made through the kindness of Mr. Itoy W. Miner, American Museum of 
Natural History, New York. 
