18 Joshua Laerm, et al. 



in Georgia, S. cinereus is restricted to high elevation (790-1,370 m) 

 in markedly mesic habitats with northern affinities (Ford et al. 1994). 



Kirkland (1985, 1991) indicated that soricids, in general, are 

 most diverse in regions characterized by cool moist forests, possibly 

 by supporting an abundant, stable, and diverse soil invertebrate fauna 

 upon which shrews depend. Pagels et al. (1994) have shown that the 

 presence of S. cinereus was significantly correlated with soil moisture 

 holding capacity and total understory vegetation, and that habitat features 

 that promote shaded, moist habitats were particularly important in 

 relict, boreal forest habitats throughout the southern Appalachians. 



Although considerable areas of the Blue Ridge Province in South 

 Carolina meet or exceed the minimum elevations at which S. cinereus 

 is found elsewhere in the southern Appalachians, boreomontane 

 habitats are limited there. At the southern limit of the Appalachian 

 Mountains, much of the mountain habitat in South Carolina is charac- 

 terized by south-facing aspects with more xeric, mixed oak and pine 

 communities. Similar xeric south-facing or ridgeline habitats in Geor- 

 gia yielded few, if any, S. cinereus in recent studies (Ford et al. 

 1994). In Georgia we encountered S. cinereus primarily at very high 

 elevations (over 1200 m) or in rich, moist, streamside communities 

 dominated by hemlock and rhododendron on the Rabun Bald Massif. 

 West of the Little Tennessee River in Georgia, S. cinereus is 

 restricted to higher (over 1000 m) elevations, and then they only 

 occur in restricted habitats with marked northern affinities such as 

 those described by Wharton (1968). 



Our collection site at the Walhala Fish Hatchery is located in 

 a relatively narrow, steep-walled gorge of the East Fork of the Chat- 

 tooga River. Wharton (1977) noted that similar streamside forest 

 communities on the Georgia side of the Chattooga were kept cool and 

 moist due to complete shading by the hemlock overstory and 

 rhododendron shrub layer as well as by steep-walled gorges. He noted 

 that such areas were refugia of more typical northern forest commu- 

 nities. The Walhala Fish Hatchery, and its associated upslope north- 

 ern aspect cove hardwood habitat, might represent a limited finger 

 or refugia in South Carolina for boreal species such as S. cinereus. 

 The region of the Walhala Fish Hatchery is one of the few sites in 

 South Carolina that has yielded other small mammals with a typical 

 boreal distribution including Clethrionomys gapperi (Pivorun et al. 

 1984) and Peromyscus maniculatus. Other high elevation sites in the 

 Blue Ridge Province including Sassafrass Mountain, Jones Gap at 

 Caesar's Head State Park, Saluda Mountain and Hogback Mountain 

 were trapped but yielded no S. cinereus. Peromyscus maniculatus has 



