1902.] 



NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 413 



THE MOLLTJSCA OF THE MT. MITCHELL REGION, NORTH CAROLINA. 

 BY BRYANT WALKER AND HENRY A. PILSBRY. 



This report is based upon material collected by :\Iessrs. James H. 

 Ferriss and Bryant Walker in the summer of 1901. 



The results of the " Pentadelphian " expedition of 1899 to the 

 Great Smoky mountains^ demonstrated the fact that these moun- 

 tains, notably in their higher portions, possessed a fauna peculiar 

 to themselves and quite distinct from that of Roan jNIountaiu 

 which lies about seventy-five miles to the northeast. And in 

 connection with this, it was stated that " the mountain region 

 between the Nolachucky and Clingman's Dome is wholly unknown 

 malacologicallj'. 



The expedition of 1901 was undertaken primarily for the pur- 

 pose of exploring Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak of the Appa- 

 lachian range, with an altitude of 6,711 feet, of whose fauna 

 nothing was known except a few species collected by Hemphill m a 

 hurried visit nearly twenty years before, and incidentally to deter- 

 mine, if possible, whether the valley of the French Broad river, 

 which here breaks through the mountains, is the dividmg hne 

 between the Roan and Great Smoky faunas. 



The party consisted of Messrs. Ferriss and Walker and two 

 ladies. Leaving the railroad at Paint Rock, N. C, a little station 

 on the French Broad river just over the line from Tennessee, alti- 

 tude about 1,200 feet, two days were spent in exploring the banks 

 on both sides of the river. 



From there the route lay almost due south for ten mountain miles 

 to Bluff mountain, which is the highest of the range lying south 

 of the river for a considerable distance. It took the wretched 

 crowbaits which hauled the camp ecpiipagc in a wagon that weighed 

 more tlian the load, all hands pushing up the steep grades, nearly 

 all day to reach Baker's, an old lumber camp, which marked the 

 end of wagon travel. Here camp was made, and the next moru- 



1 Vide these ProceeiUngf, 1900, p. 110. 



