92 J. Laerm, W. M. Ford, and D. C. Weinand 



Diersing (1980), and Lee et al. (1982). However, a single specimen 

 was subsequently collected in Transylvania County, at Cedar Mountain, 

 and reported by Mengak et al. (1987). Additionally, Hoffmeister (1968) 

 reported a single specimen from Newfound Gap, Swain County. Thus, 

 until recently the species was represented by only four specimens 

 from North Carolina. 



In August 1993 E. v. d. Berghe (Appalachian Environmental Research 

 Center, Frostburg, Maryland) submitted to J. L. collections of shrews 

 that were made in North Carolina as incidental captures in surveys for 

 carabid beetles. Included in these collections were two Sorex hoyi from 

 McDowell County and an additional specimen from Graham County. 

 Subsequently, we obtained a record of an additional specimen from M. 

 Steele (Wilkes University, Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania), who recovered 

 S. hoyi from Mount Mitchell, Avery County, in pitfall studies for soricid 

 parasites. 



In this volume, Padgett and Rose (1994) report on significant 

 new records of S. hoyi from the Dismal Swamp area in the extreme 

 northeastern portion of North Carolina. Because the species is listed as 

 special concern in North Carolina by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources 

 Commission (see also Webster 1987), additional information on its 

 distribution is needed. We report on new records of this species and 

 the results of preliminary surveys to document additional records in 

 western North Carolina. 



METHODS 



To document the occurrence of S. hoyi in regions from which it 

 had not previously been reported, we established pitfall traplines at 

 eleven sites in Clay, Cherokee, Jackson, and Macon counties in extreme 

 western North Carolina from December 1993 through January 1994. 

 Additionally, we established 15 pitfall trap lines at Coweeta Hydrological 

 Laboratory along an altitudinal gradient from 710 m to 1,525 m from 

 April through May 1994. 



Traplines consisted of twenty, 32-ounce plastic cups (11-cm lip 

 diameter, 14-cm depth) placed flush with or below the surface of the 

 ground and adjacent to rotting logs, stumps, rocks, or other forest floor 

 debris. Pitfalls were placed approximately 10-m apart along a linear 

 transect and were set in a diversity of typical southern Appalachian 

 forest habitats and checked biweekly. Because the species is protected 

 in North Carolina, we were required to discontinue trapping after the 

 second record of S. hoyi was obtained at a site. 



