Newton County Research Articles

Vascular flora of Newton County, Texas, U.S.A.

The vascular flora of Newton County, Texas is reported based on field work and internet searches. A total of 1,485 species are reported from Newton County representing 576 genera in 156 families. Three previously-reported new to Texas species were collected during the fieldwork for this flora.

Along the Ulcofauhatche: Of Sorrow Songs and "Dried Indian Creek"

Mark Auslander and Avis E. Williams recount the contested circumstances surrounding the naming of "Dried Indian Creek" in Newton County, Georgia and explore the lingering racial and institutional implications of this geographic history.

Region, Religion, and Competing Visions of Mountain Mission Education in the Ozarks

In Ozark region of northwestern Arkansas, hamlets of Kingston and Parthenon lie fewer than thirty miles from one another, separated by rugged terrain of Boston Mountains and narrow Buffalo River Valley. In 1920s, journey from Kingston Parthenon was an all-day undertaking, involving a combination of automobile and mule-drawn wagon travel. Located in adjacent counties, Kingston and Parthenon occupied one of poorest and least literate sections of a comparatively poor and illiterate region. So poor and remote were two hamlets, in fact, that both attracted attention of philanthropic educators in decade after World War I. The home mission board of Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) discovered plight of Parthenon, in Newton County, be the most destitute field in state. The observation was an apt reference area's financial status, but true source of county's destitution, as far as home mission board was concerned, was almost complete absence of Southern Baptist congregations in this rugged cranny of Ozarks. With assistance from elected county officials and county superintendent of education, superintendent of home mission board's Ozark Division of Mountain Mission Schools, Hugh D. Morton, convinced citizens of Parthenon donate thirty-five acres for a school site and provide money, materials, and labor for erection of a two-story, native-stone building containing a two-hundred-seat auditorium and seven classrooms. Within a year of school's opening in fall of 1920, local residents had completed on campus of Newton County Academy a second building, a two-story, wood-frame girls' dormitory. (1) The coeducational academy provided a remarkably thorough education for fortunate youth of Parthenon and for teenagers and pre-ministerial students who could scrape up money cover modest tuition and boarding fees or who received one of scholarships sponsored by Baptist churches and laypeople from several towns in Arkansas and Texas. As home mission board intended, school's proselytizing teachers and annual, weeklong revival services brought dozens of children and parents into Southern Baptist fold. Within two years Newton County Academy boasted an enrollment of 184 students, some of whom found themselves participating in one of two literary societies on campus, competing in debates, and studying Latin, advanced mathematics, and other courses beyond rudimentary subjects of typical public, one-room school. In spite of school's popularity and its boon church rolls, Newton County Academy, like other Baptist mission schools in Arkansas, had closed its doors by end of 1920s, a product of Southern Baptists' waning interest in mission schools, financial strains in wake of flood of 1927, and spread of rural public high schools. (2) Across hills and hollows in Kingston, a different denomination came town. In early 1917, just weeks before United States' entry into World War I, Warren H. Wilson, director of Department of Church and Country Life for Presbyterian Church in United States of America (PCUSA, colloquially known as Northern Presbyterians), sent middle-aged Indiana minister Elmer J. Bouher this remote location in Kings River Valley, site of an abandoned mission station. Bouher, who had been longing to get out where there was no church, into a community that most needed ministering to, found in Kingston perfect laboratory in which test his vision of rural rehabilitation. (3) For Bouher and for many other white, native-born Protestants in early twentieth century, citizens of Kingston, Anglo-Saxon core, composed ideal population for this experiment. In his dozen years living among hill people, with their feet deeply set in traditional soil of ancestors, tireless minister reopened PCUSA church, established a Sunday school, lectured farmers on latest progressive agricultural techniques, challenged moonshiners and bootleggers, opened a clinic staffed with a full-time nurse, and lobbied county and state officials for road improvements. …

Grassland plantings and landscape natural areas both influence insect natural enemies

Local habitat management and landscape composition are main factors in determining the abundance and diversity of conservation biological control agents. In Midwestern U.S.A., the establishment of conservation plantings is encouraged through government programs. These plantings buffer streams from agricultural inputs and increase wildlife habitat. We examined the effects that these plantings and semi-natural areas in the surrounding landscape have upon the abundance and diversity of natural enemies of the soybean aphid. We quantified abundances of soybean aphids and their natural enemies in soybean fields and adjacent plantings in Newton County, Indiana, U.S.A. We found a higher number of natural enemies in conservation plantings than in soybean fields before aphids arrived. When soybean aphid populations were increasing, aphid abundance was a main factor influencing the four major predator groups (Anthocoridae, Nabidae, and exotic and native Coccinellidae). Along with aphid abundance, the presence of adjacent plantings and forest areas within 3km affected nabid abundance and the presence of adjacent plantings and grassy areas within 5km influenced the abundance of native coccinellid in soybean fields. Lastly, this study showed that the presence of grassland strips enhances beta diversity of natural enemies in soybean fields. Therefore, natural enemy communities may be more resilient to disturbance in landscapes containing conservation plantings. The increased natural enemy abundance with plantings and semi-natural areas in the surrounding landscape may enhance conservation biological control and benefit farmers.

A New Species of Caryospora (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) from the Flathead Snake, Tantilla gracilis (Ophidia: Colubridae), In Southeastern Oklahoma

A single flathead snake, Tantilla gracilis , collected in early October 2010 from Choctaw County, Oklahoma, was found to harbor an undescribed species of Caryospora . Oocysts of Caryospora choctawensis n. sp. were spherical to subspherical, 15.8 × 15.0 (14-18 × 14-16) µm, with a thick, bilayered wall and a shape index (length∶width) of 1.1. A micropyle and an oocyst residuum were absent, but prominent Stieda and bubble-like sub-Stieda bodies were present as well as a bilobed polar granule near the oocyst wall. Sporocysts were ovoidal, 10.8 × 9.0 (10-12 × 8-9) µm, with a shape index of 1.2. The sporocyst residuum was spherical and composed of a cluster of granules often membrane-bound. This is the second time a caryosporan species has been reported from T. gracilis but the first coccidian ever described from a reptilian host in Oklahoma. Additional T. gracilis from Arkansas (n = 6), Oklahoma (n = 1), and Texas (n = 7) were examined, and a single specimen from Newton County, Arkansas harbored Caryospora gracilis Upton, McAllister, Trauth, and Bibb, 1992 , previously reported from T. gracilis collected in Arkansas and Texas.

Brackenridgia Ashleyi (Isopoda: Trichoniscidae): Range Extension with Notes on Ecology

We collected Brackenridgia ashleyi from ten caves in Arkansas and Missouri. From the type locality at Tumbling Creek Cave, Taney County, Missouri, we extended the range of the species 138 km north-northeast into Pulaski County, Missouri, 67 km south-southwest into Newton County, Arkansas, and 96 km southeast into Izard County, Arkansas. The new records reported here, in combination with detection of this species at previously inventoried sites, suggest that this species is widely distributed in the Ozarks. However, the relatively intensive sampling efforts required indicate the B. ashleyi is rare and easily overlooked.

Monitoring county-level chlamydia incidence in Texas, 2004 - 2005: application of empirical Bayesian smoothing and Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) methods.

BackgroundChlamydia continues to be the most prevalent disease in the United States. Effective spatial monitoring of chlamydia incidence is important for successful implementation of control and prevention programs. The objective of this study is to apply Bayesian smoothing and exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) methods to monitor Texas county-level chlamydia incidence rates by examining spatiotemporal patterns. We used county-level data on chlamydia incidence (for all ages, gender and races) from the National Electronic Telecommunications System for Surveillance (NETSS) for 2004 and 2005.ResultsBayesian-smoothed chlamydia incidence rates were spatially dependent both in levels and in relative changes. Erath county had significantly (p < 0.05) higher smoothed rates (> 300 cases per 100,000 residents) than its contiguous neighbors (195 or less) in both years. Gaines county experienced the highest relative increase in smoothed rates (173% – 139 to 379). The relative change in smoothed chlamydia rates in Newton county was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than its contiguous neighbors.ConclusionBayesian smoothing and ESDA methods can assist programs in using chlamydia surveillance data to identify outliers, as well as relevant changes in chlamydia incidence in specific geographic units. Secondly, it may also indirectly help in assessing existing differences and changes in chlamydia surveillance systems over time.

Noteworthy Collections: Tennessee

Macrothelypteris torresiana (Gaudich) Ching (THELYPTERIDACEAE)—Gibson County: Low, disturbed woods of loess soil within the Coastal Plain Physiographic Province of western Tennessee, north end of Milan Army Ammunition Plant, USGS Atwood 7.59 Topographic Quadrangle, Lat: 35.940uN, Long -088.704uW, 14 May 2007, Roger McCoy s.n. with Todd Crabtree (TENN) (2 specimens). Significance. Macrothelypteris torresiana is a native of tropical Asia. In the United States, it was first collected out of cultivation from Seminole County, Florida over 100 years ago (Leonard 1972). By the end of the 1970s, the species was documented from the Atlantic or Gulf Coastal Plains of eight southeastern states (AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, MS, SC, and TX) spanning as far west as Newton County, Texas (just west of Louisiana) and as far north as Marshall County, Mississippi (just south of Tennessee) (Leonard 1972, Taylor and Johnson 1979). In 1999, the first collection of naturalized plants in Tennessee was made from the Ridge and Valley Physiographic Province (Beck and Van Horn 2007). Other collections outside of the Coastal Plain are from the Ridge and Valley Province of southwestern Virginia (Virginia Botanical Associates 2008; T.F. Wieboldt, Associate Curator Massey Herbarium (VPI), pers. comm.), and the Piedmont of South Carolina (Horn 2006). This is the first report of the non-native Macrothelypteris torresiana from the Coastal Plain of Tennessee. Given the species’ presence from several Southeastern Coastal Plain locations, recent documentation from other physiographic provinces and stations further north, it appears that this non-native species is not only securely naturalized, but spreading.

Quantifying a Rare Event: Pollen Theft by Honey Bees from Bumble Bees and Other Bees (Apoidea: Apidae, Megachilidae) Foraging at Flowers

Although honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) frequently raid conspecific colonies for pollen and nectar stores (Winston, 1987; Downs et al., 2001), they are rarely observed stealing pollen from foraging bees of other species (Laroca and Winston, 1978; Thorp and Briggs, 1980). Here I report observations of honey bees stealing pollen from three species of bee (Bombus impatiens Cresson (Apidae), Megachile montivaga Cresson (Megachilidae), and Melissodes desponsa Smith (Apidae)) at flowers of pasture thistle, Cirsium discolor (Muhl.) Spreng. (Asteraceae) in Indiana. This is the third report of such behavior, and like the others was observed at an Asteraceae species (Thorp and Briggs, 1980; Laroca and Winston, 1978). It is the first report to quantify the rarity of the behavior in Apis; based on this it is no surprise that there are few published reports. In addition, this is the first observation of pollen theft behavior in the eastern United States; previous reports were from California (Thorp and Briggs, 1980) and Kansas (Laroca and Winston, 1978). This is also the first report of a fast-flying (Melissodes) species being subject to cleptolecty (Thorp and Briggs, 1980), the theft of pollen from the pollen collecting apparatus of other bees by honey bees. I also report observations of honey bees collecting pollen from the abdomen of a bumble bee worker and a megachilid forager, similar to the pollen theft previously reported by Laroca and Winston (1978). I made these observations during a three-year (2001-2003) survey of bees in 5 sandy black oak savannas of northwestern Indiana. I netted bees at over 70 species of flowering plants from April-September each year, visiting each site approximately biweekly, and paying special attention to overlap in flower use by honey bees and native bees. Honey bees were commonly observed on flowers of Lupinus perennis L. (Fabaceae), Rubus spp. (Rosaceae), Scrophularia lanceolata Pursh. (Scrophulariaceae), Tradescantia ohiensis Raf. (Commelinaceae), Solidago spp. (Asteraceae) and Cirsium discolor, but pollen theft was only observed on C. discolor at a single site, and then only on three days. Pollen theft was observed on three days (30 August, 5 and 7 September 2003) at Conrad Station, Newton County, a savanna owned by The Nature Conservancy. Here, populations of C. discolor grow along abandoned railroad tracks. Common floral visitors include A. mellifera, B. impatiens, Bombus griseocollis (DeGeer), Melissodes desponsa, Megachile montivaga, and Ceratina spp. (Apidae). Two hives of A. mellifera were maintained 0.5 km from the thistle patch. Cirsium discolor stands 1-2 m high and has a large floral head (2.5-3.5 cm wide; Gleason and Cronquist, 1963) of several hundred blue, tubular florets that produce nectar and bright, white pollen presented on exserted stamens, which is easily seen on pollinators. The corolla tubes are approxi mately 2.5 cm deep, limiting nectar access to long-tongued species. On 30 August, approximately 10 B. impatiens workers were attacked by up to 2 Apis workers at a time between 11:00 and 11:30 a.m. At least some pollen appeared to be removed from each victim Bombus. Apis workers sought the corbicula loads on Bombus workers and usually removed a small amount of pollen, but never an entire corbicula load. Bombus responses were complacent and non-aggressive. One honey bee landed on a M. montivaga forager and took pollen from the dorsal portion of the abdomen, causing the victim to fly off. On 5 September at the same patch, six honey bees attempted to steal pollen on six occasions (one individual per occasion) from B. impatiens workers. On 3 of 5 attempts, a single honey bee removed part of a corbicula load. A sixth honey bee removed pollen from a bee's dorsal abdomen. Bumble bee responses were again limited. On three occasions they moved their rear legs back and forth as when grooming, twice they did not respond, and once the bumble bee flew from the flower. On 7 September, I photographed the activity (Fig. 1). Once again, between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m., honey bees robbed pollen from B. impatiens on many occasions. On one occasion a single honey bee attempted to

Lead, cadmium, and zinc concentrations in plaster and mortar from structures in Jasper and Newton Counties, Missouri (Tri-State Mining District)

The primary goal of this study was to evaluate anecdotal evidence that within Jasper and Newton Counties, Missouri, two counties within the Tri-State Mining District, granular mine tailings were commonly used in place of river sands in wall plasters and mortar. Interior wall plaster and mortar samples from structures in this mining district were analyzed for lead, cadmium, and zinc, and compared to samples from Springfield, MO (comparison site). The Jasper and Newton County samples showed elevated concentrations of the three elements, consistent with the inclusion of mine tailings, with a number of samples containing lead and cadmium at concentrations greater than EPA remediation targets for yard soil. X-ray diffraction studies showed the presence of the zinc ore minerals, sphalerite and hemimorphite, in high level samples. Thin section optical studies identified the major component of the aggregate as chert, a mineral abundant within the tailing piles. Because dust from crumbling plaster and mortar could represent an avenue for significant heavy metal exposure to building occupants, we suggest that there may be associated health consequences that should be further evaluated.

Food Habits and Feeding Electivity of the Turquoise Darter, Etheostoma inscriptum, in a Georgia Piedmont Stream

ABSTRACT The food habits and feeding electivity of the turquoise darter, were studied in Bear Creek, a tributary of the Alcovy River in Newton County, Georgia. Twenty darters were collected in late spring and fall, and their stomach contents were examined. Chironomid larvae were the most important food item and were present in stomachs from all darters examined. Highest feeding electivity was noted for this food item; most other feeding was opportunistic. Other food items of lesser or seasonal importance included blackfly larvae and mayfly and caddisfly nymphs. Larger darters utilized larger prey such as mayfly nymphs to some degree, but no clear trends were evident.

"In the Land of a Million Smiles": Twentieth-Century America Discovers the Arkanasas Ozarks

HEMMED-IN HOLLER HAS LONG BEEN a popular attraction for Ozark travelers. Today its rugged beauty and isolation attract hikers and awe canoeists floating on the swift upper reaches of the Buffalo River. Hemmed-in Holler was especially appealing to writers who the Ozarks after World War I and whose preconceptions of Ozark people seemed to be satisfied by Holler dwellers. Perhaps no other community in the Arkansas Ozarks-a region that appeared staggeringly remote to most Americans-was as isolated and removed from the forces of modernization as Hemmed-in Holler. One observer described the exotic terrain in 1935: [were] no roads into the holler. One usually enter[ed] it, afoot, fording the river from one to a dozen times, following a mountainside trail steep enough to become discouraging to a mountain goat.1 This Newton County hollow was home to a community as isolated and anachronistic as any the United States had to offer in the middle of the twentieth century. When Charles Morrow Wilson, a Fayetteville native and freelance journalist, visited the Holler in the midst of the Great Depression, he found twenty-two families living lives similar to those of their ancestors a hundred years earlier. There were no automobiles, radios, or telephones; no electricity or indoor plumbing; no doctors, teachers, or even preachers. Although the Buffalo River bottoms were fertile, the difficulty of transportation allowed only subsistence farming. Most raised their own tobacco, and the women continued to spin and weave wool cloth and make the families' clothes. Cash incomes-estimated at only $60 a year per family-depended upon by-products and incidental crops such as wool, honey, sorghum molasses, cow hides, chickens, eggs, furs, and herbs. The residents of Hemmed-in Holler, their names outstandingly English, could, according to Wilson, swap talk and break bread with farmers of Chaucer's England, and suffer few misunderstandings.2 Hemmed-in Holler was an anomaly on the eve of World War II, an anachronistic, quaint model of a region as it had existed half a century earlier. Yet for all its uniqueness-in the Holler were no cotton tenants, apple orchards, or broiler houses-Hemmed-in Holler matches the Ozark image that developed after 1930. The Holler and other remote communities scattered across the region satisfied the demands of that image so well, in fact, that one must presume they served as the model for the popular Ozark portrait. Not surprisingly, writers and tourism promoters discovered the region and its Hemmed-in Hollers just as the quaint relics of frontier existence-the diverting and picturesque qualities so appealing to nostalgic urban Americans-were fading from the scene, rendered obsolete by the modernizing forces of government intervention and technology. As historian Janet Allured comments in her study of women and family life in the Ozarks: Though many outsiders were loathe to admit it, not everyone was poor, few families kept a still at the spring house, even fewer women smoked a corn-cob pipe, and not every person was superstitious.3 Thus, the image of the Arkansas Ozarks formed during the depression-of log cabin homesteads inhabited by broad-brimmed hat-wearing, barefooted moonshiners and wrinkled women weaving homespun-was based on nostalgia and whimsy, and it was supported only briefly by a select cadre of remote twentieth-century families living almost wholly lives of the nineteenth century. By most standards, life in the Arkansas Ozarks before World War II would have been isolated and difficult, but the isolation and harshness were relative and in most areas decreased in the first four decades of the twentieth century. Isolation and accessibility, like agricultural practices, differed from subregion to subregion and community to community within the Ozarks. Two archaeological studies reveal these contrasts. Artifacts at the Moser site northwest of Lowell in Benton County dispute the backward image and indicate that by the late nineteenth century the people were integrated through a flow of information and goods that connected the site to the community, the region, and beyond. …

New genus of tapir (Mammalia: Tapiridae) from the Arikareean (earliest Miocene) of the Texas Coastal Plain

ABSTRACT The nearly complete dentition of the rare tapirid Miotapirus marslandensis was recovered from the recently discovered late Arikareean Toledo Bend Local Fauna, Newton County, Texas. The species was previously known from only two associated upper molars found near Marsland, Nebraska, in 1917. The Nebraska molars, together with the Toledo Bend material and additional specimens from the Monroe Creek Formation, South Dakota, share unique characters lacking from the genotypic species, Miotapirus harrisonensis Schlaikjer. The species from Texas, South Dakota, and Nebraska appears closely related to the rare Protapirus robustus Sinclair from the upper John Day Formation, Oregon, based on derived characters of the dentition. Miotapirus marslandensis and Protapirus robustus are here referred to Nexuotapirus, gen. nov. A review of all late Oligocene-early Miocene North American tapirids concludes that Protapirus validus Hatcher and Tanyops undens Marsh are junior synonyms of P. simplex Wortman and Earle.

Lower vertebrates from an Arikareean (earliest Miocene) fauna near the Toledo Bend Dam, Newton County, Texas

A recently discovered vertebrate fossil-bearing locality in the Fleming Formation of easternmost Texas has revealed a highly diverse fauna that contains a minimum of 44 early Miocene vertebrate taxa. At least 17 different species of lower vertebrates were recovered including five fish, two amphibians, one lizard, two snakes, at least five chelonians, and two crocodilians. A tiny boid that compares favorably withAnilioides nebraskensisis the first record in the Gulf Coastal Plain, and remains of a large aquatic turtle referred to the genusDermatemyspossibly represent its first fossil occurrence. Other rare genera represented include the largemouth bassMicropterus, possibly the snookCentropomus, and the crocodilianGavialosuchus.In addition, temporal and spatial range extensions are recorded forMicropterusandAlligator olseni.These taxa, along with the mammalian component to be discussed elsewhere, document the rare preservation of a forested subtropical to tropical coastal lowland paleoenvironment and provide evidence to imply that separation into mid-continent and coastal plain paleobiogeographic provinces had not yet occurred.

Reproductive Biology of Plethodon dorsalis in Northwestern Arkansas

Four species of small, typically red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus, P. dorsalis, P. serratus, P. websteri) occur in the southeastern United States and were formerly included in P. cinereus (Bishop, 1943). Aspects of the life history of P. cinereus, P. serratus, and P. websteri have been studied (Sayler, 1966; Werner, 1971; Nagel, 1977; Lotter, 1978; Semlitsch and West, 1983; Camp, 1988; Taylor et al., 1990). The reproductive biology of southern populations of these species is similar. Sexual maturity is usually attained in the third year of life at a size of about 30-35 mm snout-vent length (SVL); surface activity occurs from fall to spring; oviposition is annual, and each mature female broods 3-15 eggs, presumably during summer in subterranean refuges (Nagel, 1977; Semlitsch and West, 1983; Camp, 1988; Taylor et al., 1990). The purpose of this study was to compare the reproductive biology of P. dorsalis in Arkansas with its morphologically similar congeners. Salamanders were sampled monthly from January to December 1988 by turning logs and rocks in Newton County, Arkansas. However, in June, July, and August, when salamanders were scarce on the surface, all but three individuals were collected in a cave.

Collections of Adult Ixodes dammini in Indiana, 1987—1990, and the Isolation of Borrelia burgdorferi

The collection records for Ixodes dammini Spielman, Clifford, Piesman & Corwin in Indiana are summarized for the period 1987-1990. In 1990, 13 of 729 deer examined were found to harbor adult I. dammini ticks. Eleven of these ticks were collected from 10 deer at a site in Newton County in northwestern Indiana. Borrelia burgdorferi spirochetes were isolated from a single female I. dammini tick collected from this site.

Parastenocaris Texana, New Species (Copepoda: Harpacticoida: Parastenocarididae) from an East Texas Sandy Stream with Notes on its Ecology

ABSTRACT Parastenocaristexana, new species, from submerged sands of Mill Creek, Newton County, Texas, is described. It is distinguished from the known species of the genus by the features of legs 3 and 4 of the male. Parastenocaris texana is the first Nearctic member of this genus described from stream sands, and its occurrence greatly extends the southern range for North American Parastenocaris. Most specimens were found at 20-30 cm depths in submerged riffle sands.

Ecological Studies of the Sand-Dwelling Community of an East Texas Stream

Between February 1976 and January 1977, an ecological study was made of sandy riffle areas of Mill Creek, Newton County, Texas. The psammonic community in the main channel of Mill Creek consisted of midges, oligochaetes, flatworms, micro-crustaceans, nematodes and tardigrades. The six dominant psammonic taxa with their annual mean densities and standard deviations (102 × animals / m2) were Aeolosoma spp. (1455 ± 3448), Catenula sp. (188 ± 605), Parakiefferiella spp. (307 ± 1169), Nematoda (43 ± 105), Robackia demeijerei (20 ± 30), and Polypedium spp. (20 ± 148). The following taxa were also present in descending order of abundance: Eucyclops agilis, Macrobiotus sp., Hexagenia limbata, Tanytarsini and Parastenocaris sp. Psammon densities were lowest in summer and highest in winter. Densities were highest in mid-riffle stations of upper and lower Mill Creek, and between mid-riffle and margin. Densities were lowest at the riffle's margin, pool and the Copperas Creek stations. Highest densities may be associa...

Dieldrin Mortality of Lesser Snow Geese in Missouri

In March and April 1974, 157 lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens) died from dieldrin poisoning during northward migration through western Missouri. Evidence strongly suggested that the mortality in Missouri resulted from delayed effects upon geese exposed to aldrin-treated rice seed on wintering areas in southeast Texas. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 41(1):100-103 From late March to mid-April 1974, widespread mortality of lesser snow geese occurred in western Missouri. Dead birds were found shortly after the arrival of spring migrants, and mortality continued during the peak of northward migration of snow geese through the state. Dead and dying geese were first observed the last week of March at the Schell-Osage Wildlife Area in west-central Missouri. From 1 through 12 April, mortality was observed near Neosho, Newton County, in southwestern Missouri; Schell-Osage Wildlife Area, Vernon and St. Clair counties; Trimble Wildlife Area, Clinton County; and Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Holt County, in northwestern Missouri. Delayed effects on birds from stored aldrin-dieldrin residues may occur during the stress of migration at considerable distances from areas where the birds were exposed. This paper provides evidence that snow geese died during migration through western Missouri from aldrin-dieldrin poisoning, and that the most probable source of exposure was on wintering areas of southeast Texas. We express our appreciation to R. Vaught, K. Slagle, R. Baskett, and R. Dobbins of the Missouri Department of Conservation for assistance in determining snow goose losses and collecting specimens for examinations. We thank E. L. McCune, University of Missouri, for necropsies and R. Schoettger and D. Stallings, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, for chemical analyses of brain tissue samples for pesticides. We also extend appreciation to C. Stutzenbaker, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and G. Nugent, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for providing snow goose banding data; J. Szymanski and H. Lobpries ,Garwood, Colorado County, Texas, for collecting goose bands from guides and hunters; and personnel of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Migratory Bird Management, for providing band recovery records for snow

Ecological Studies on Reithrodontomys megalotis in Indiana

Since August 1969, 182 Reithrodontomys megalotis have been taken in Newton County, Indiana. Because there were no previous records for the state, the species might have recently invaded Indiana from the west. The largest population known occupies a rye field that was undisturbed from spring 1969 through December 1970. Harvest mice might have been moving from the rye field into surrounding areas. Indiana harvest mice appear to breed from March to November. From two to six embryos (mean, 3.8) were found in 30 pregnant females. Radfordia subuliger was the only external parasite regularly found (1.30 per mouse and present on 27.2 per cent of individuals), with Androlaelaps fahrenholzi being second in abundance. Other external parasites found were three specimens of Dermacarus hypudaei and two species of fleas (six Epitedia wenmanni and four Orchopeas leucopus ). Seeds and green shoots of rye were the most important foods, followed by lepidopterous larvae. Setaria and other grass seeds were important in habitats other than the rye field. Small mammals most commonly trapped with R. megalotis in Indiana were Peromyscus maniculatus, P. leucopus, Mus musculus , and Microtus ochrogaster . Indiana harvest mice are morphologically smaller and more variable than individuals from established populations in Nebraska.