THE CHANGA OR WEST INDIAN MOLE CRICKET. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. I Page. 
Importance 3 
Classification and synonymy 4 
History and distribution 4 
General habits C 
Feeding habits and food plants 7 
Description ol adult 8 
Life history 10 
Natural control 16 
Artificial control 20 
General remarks on control measures 24 
Summary 24 
Acknowledgments 25 
Bibliography 25 
IMPORTANCE. 
The most serious insect pest of general agriculture in Porto Rico 
is the West Indian mole cricket (Scapteriscus vIcwms) or "changa," 
as it is popularly called on this island. The latter name is 
derived from the fancied resemblance of the insect's head to that 
of a monkey (chango). Although other insects may be more de- 
structive to special crops, as, for example, white grubs to sugar cane 
and flea beetles (Epitrix spp.) to tobacco, the changa causes such 
serious damage to agriculture in general that it takes first rank 
as an insect depredator. Barrett in 1902 (2, p. 5) 1 stated that "the 
changa's damages to tobacco, cane, and small crops in the island 
amount to probably more than $100,000 annually." Improved con- 
trol measures have greatly reduced the loss to cane and especially 
to tobacco since that time. It is to the general gardener that the 
changa now does most harm. It should be recognized, however, that 
much damage done to miscellaneous crops by other crickets and by 
cutworms is mistakenly attributed to the changa, which, on account 
of its conspicuous size, is well known to even the most casual observer. 
The mole cricket is found in neighboring tropical countries having 
about the same soil and climatic conditions as Porto Eico, but it is 
only in this island that the insect has become of serious importance in 
agriculture. Possibly some very effective parasite, as yet undis- 
covered, holds it in check in its other habitats, or, perhaps, a com- 
bination of circumstances, such as suitable soil conditions, favorable 
cultivation methods, and absence of certain predacious enemies, is 
the cause of the insect's greater destructiveness in Porto Eico. 
1 Figures in parentheses refer to the bibliography found on pp. 25-28 ; other figures refer 
to footnotes. 
(3) 
