Abstract
This; investigation deals with the examination of 102 roof rats, Rattus rattus frugivorus Rafinesque, and 30 cotton rats, Sigmodon hispidus hispidus Say and Ord, for their internal and external parasites. All were trapped in or near College Station, Brazos County, in east-central Texas, February, 1948, to March, 1949. Rattus rattus frugivorus appears to be thei only domestic rat present in the Brazos County area. Sigmodon hispidus hispidus is the common wild rat of fields and vacant lots. Thus, a comparative study is made of the parasite burdens of representatives from two families: the imported, or Old World, roof rat (Family Muridae), and the indigenous, or New World, cotton rat (Family Cricetidae). Since the turn of the century many reports on the parasites of domestic rats have appeared, but little has been published on the parasites of cotton rats until quite recently. Harkema and Kartman (1948) reported their examinations of cotton rats for helminths and. ectoparasites in Georgia and North Carolina, stating no previous helminthic survey had been published. However, Baylis (1945) had listed the helminths found in cotton rats sent him from Southern States. Chandler (1922) earlier had found a new cestode, Schizotaenica sigmodontis, in about 75% of 96 cotton rats from East Texas. Again, in 1932, he described a new nematode, Longistriata adunca, occurring in cotton rats in the vicinity of Houston, Texas. In recent years much work has been done with the filarial worm, Litomosoides carinii, by Scott and Cross (1946), Bertram (1946), and Williams (1948).
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