North Carolina Crayfishes 103 



ment of Toxaway River of the Savannah River system upon the head- 

 waters of the French Broad River of the Tennessee River basin." Ross 

 further commented that "Toxaway Creek has not only breached the 

 Blue Ridge but it has also begun to drain some of the 2900 to 3000- 

 foot surface around Lake Toxaway, which once must have been part 

 of the French Broad basin." Later, Hobbs and Peters (1977:11) provided 

 evidence, based on the distributions of fishes and entocytherid 

 ostracods, that "the possibility of a former connection between parts 

 of the two basins exists." Despite these analyses, however, current 

 evidence indicates that Prins and Hobbs (1972:412) may have been 

 correct in suggesting that C. reburrus is not native to the Savannah 

 River basin. 



The following additional collections of this species are all 

 from the same locality in the general area of the type locality. 

 Jackson Co. — pond in floodplain Horsepasture R along US 64, 1.2 

 rd mi (1.9 rd km) W jet SR 1119; 1 9 with young (NCSM C-890), 

 1 ovig 2 (NCSM C-891), 5 Jun 1977, ALB, 3 $ with young 

 (NCSM C-253, 258, 259), 1 j $ , 1 S II (NCSM C-260), 4 6 II, 1 $ 

 1 j 9 (NCSM C-912), 27 Jun 1977, DLS, ALB. Several collections 

 made elsewhere in the Horsepasture watershed yielded only C. b. 

 bartonii. 



At all localities where C. reburrus has been taken, it has proved 

 to be a creature of slack or slow-moving waters of low gradient and 

 generally with considerable organic debris. To our knowledge, it has 

 not been taken in swift, high-gradient streams devoid of detritus. 

 Collections we made in September 1984 in two such headwater streams 

 of the Chatooga River south of Highlands, Macon County, streams 

 that in North Carolina are independent of the more eastern head- 

 waters of the Savannah, produced only C. asperimanus. Suitable C. 

 reburrus habitat is unlikely in the lower Horsepasture and Toxaway 

 rivers, and in the Thompson River. It almost certainly exists, however, 

 in those parts of the Horsepasture watershed between Sapphire and 

 Fairfield lakes and the northern limits of Cashiers, in the headwaters 

 of the Chatooga River in and around Cashiers, in the floodplain of the 

 Toxaway River around Lake Toxaway above Toxaway Falls, and in 

 the Whitewater watershed above Whitewater Falls. We can find no 

 evidence that C. reburrus has been taken from any of these areas, but 

 perhaps more field work will reveal its presence in one or more of 

 them. 



Although fairly common and widespread in the upper reaches 

 of the French Broad River basin, C. reburrus has yet to be verified 

 any farther downriver in this system than eastcentral Buncombe 



