14 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MTJSEUIM vol. loe 



consisting chiefly of oak, hickory, and mountain maple. A large 

 number of dead chestnut trees. The herb stratum dominated by 

 Tmpaiiens biflora and the ferns Polysti chum acrostichoides and Osmunda 

 ciuTiamonea. The logs and rocks almost entirely blanketed with 

 moss." Millipeds collected at this place included Urohlaniulus 

 immaculatus and Apheloria kleinpeteri. East of Marion, Ya., fowleri 

 was found in a typical Magnolia-Liriodendron "cove forest." 



DisTRiBUTiox: West side of the Iron Mountains and crossing the 

 Great Valley to the folded Appalachians at Big Walker Mountain 

 west of Wy theville. Known from the following localities : 



Virginia. Bland County: Big Walker Mountain, 10 miles east of Bland Court 

 House, Fowler and Hoffman, June 24, 1950 (USNM, RLII). Gra}'son County: 

 Comer's Rock, 3,800-4,000 feet, Leslie Hubricht, June 17, 1950 (RLE). Smyth 

 County: Five milas east of Marion, Hoffman, May 4, 1954, Hoffman and Keeton, 

 Aug. 22, 1954 (RLH). Washington County: Laurel Creek at Damascus, Leslie 

 Hubricht, May 28, 1951 (RLH). 



The range of this subspecies is the most interesting to be found for 

 Dixioria. It is perhaps as great as that of pela, and embraces almost 

 as much altitudinal variation. More pertinent is the fact that Big 

 Walker Mountain is the only laiown station for a Dixioria outside the 

 southern section of the Blue Ridge physiographic province. The 

 situation is quite like that which obtains in the case of the plethodontid 

 salamander Plethodon jordani metcalfi Brimley, which is likewise 

 restricted to the Blue Ridge Province except for a single locality 

 (Burke's Garden, Tazewell County, Va.) less than a dozen miles from 

 Walker Mountam. This distribution is strongly suggestive of former 

 continuity in a northwest-southeast du'ection, which is even today 

 inarked by the rugged country forming the divide between the head- 

 waters of the Holston River and tributaries of the Kanawha. 



Judging from the distribution of the two races, as well as the 

 evidence available in gonopod structure, it seems likely that coronata 

 is to be regarded as a high altitude counterpart oifowleri. That the 

 two arc subspecifically related is shown both by the quality level of 

 gonopod differences as well as by two male specimens from Comer's 

 Rock, which, although cited under fowleri, appear to be intergrades 

 that I am iniable to place in either of the two races. The gonopods 

 are like those of coronata in the tibiotarsal processes, but similar to 

 fowleri in the shape of the prefernoral process. Comer's Rock is also 

 an intermediate locality both horizontally and vertically, as shown by 

 the map. 



Five males from Damascus are indistinguishable in every respect 

 from the type series. But intergradation is certainly to be expected 

 in the Damascus area, where future collecting can be profitably 

 carried on. 



