OBSERVATIONS ON THE CRUSTACEAN FAUNA OF 

 NICKAJACK CAVE, TENNESSEE, AND VICINITY. 



By William Perry Hay, 



Of Howard University, Washington City, 



I.— INTRODUCTION. 



During- the summer of 1901 the writer was able to visit Chattanooga, 

 Tennessee, for the purpose of examining certain caverns in that region 

 and making collections of the crustacean fauna. Like most other parts 

 of the country in which limestone abounds, the region is full of caves, 

 some ten or more being easily accessible from Chattanooga. Of these 

 only a few have been visited by collectors. Owing to lack of time the 

 writer was forced to pay attention only to the better-known caves, a 

 brief description of which follows. 



Nickajack Cave is situated near Shellmound, Tennessee, a small sta- 

 tion on the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railroad, about 20 

 miles southwest of Chattanooga; it may also be located about one- 

 fourth of a mile north of the point where the south line of Tennessee 

 is joined by the boundary line between Georgia and Alabama. Here 

 is also the end of Sand or Raccoon Mountain, a long ridge, which for 

 man}^ miles separates the drainage basin of the Tennessee River from 

 that of the streams which flow into the Gulf of Mexico, a broad, flat- 

 topped ridge with a foundation of limestone and a superstructure of 

 the sandstone. It rises rather abruptly from the narrow river valley 

 to a height of over 1,700 feet. 



The mouth of the cave, which by the removal of a few trees has been 

 made easily visible from the railroad, lies at the base of the north point 

 of Sand INIountain, and the passage seems to extend straight back along 

 the axis of the ridge. In size and impressiveness the entrance far sur- 

 passes that of any other American cavern, and alone should make Nicka- 

 jack a point of interest. It is about 200 feet wide and 75 feet high from 

 the surface of the cave stream to the ceiling. About half the width is 

 taken up by the gorge through which the stream flows; the remainder 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXV— No. 1292. 

 Froc. N. M. vol. xxv— 02 27 



