Lavaca County Research Articles

A New Species of Flea from the Field Mouse, Baiomys Taylori

A large series of an apparently new flea has been taken from the field mouse, Baiomys taylori , in Lavaca County, Texas, in connection with an extensive murine typhus research program being conducted there by the Texas State Department of Health and the United States Public Health Service. Considering the small size of the Baiomys , the mice were heavily infested with this flea. During March and April, 1946, eighty-one fleas were combed from twenty-one of these mice.

An Ectoparasitic Survey of Mammals from Lavaca County, Texas

Maxcy (1926) first noted that rats and mice might be the reservoir of endemic typhus, and that fleas, mites, or ticks, were probable transmitters of the disease in the United States. Since that time, many investigators have recovered the rickettsiae of typhus fever from rats and their fleas. Dyar, Rumreich, and Badger (1931) first demonstrated the natural infection of the rat fleas, Xenopsylla cheopis (Rothschild) and Leptopsylla segnis (Schonheer) with endemic typhus. The fleas were taken from rats trapped in Baltimore, Md., and Savannah, Ga. Brigham (1941) reported the recovery of endemic typhus fever rickettsiae from naturally infected chicken fleas. Alicata (1942) obtained experimental transmission of the typhus rickettsiae from rat to rat with the sticktight flea, Echidnophaga gallinacean (Westwood). Dove and Shelmire (1932) reported the laboratory transmission of endemic typhus from guinea pig to guinea pig through the bites of tropical rat mites, Liponyssus bacoti (Hirst). Mooser, Zinsner, and Castaneda, working in Mexico City in 1930, obtained transmission from rat to rat by the rat louse, Polyplax spinulosa (Burmeister).

Oakville, Cuero, and Goliad Formations of Texas Coastal Plain between Brazos River and Rio Grande

The geologic section, which is mapped and described, is as follows. Pliocene Goliad formation Miocene Fleming group Cuero formation Oakville formation The name Cuero is proposed for a formation containing reddish-colored clays exposed in a belt from Live Oak County to Lavaca County, Texas.

Active Faulting in Lavaca County, Texas: GEOLOGICAL NOTES

Active Faulting in Lavaca County, Texas: GEOLOGICAL NOTES