104 
David C. Culver and Timothy J. Ehlinger 
METHODS AND MATERIALS 
The isopods Caecidotea holsingeri (Sleeves) and Caecidotea cannulus 
comprise the great majority of individuals and biomass of the 
macroscopic fauna in most cave streams of the Monongahela River 
drainage in West Virginia. Collections were made in every known loca- 
tion for the species in this drainage. This covers the entire range of C. 
cannulus. Caecidotea holsingeri is also known from caves in the New, 
Greenbrier, Elk, and James River drainages (Holsinger et al. 1976), 
where it often occurs with a rich amphipod fauna (Culver 1970). For 
comparative purposes, collections of C. holsingeri were taken from Lin- 
wood Cave in the Elk River drainage. This is the closest known locality 
to caves in the Monongahela River drainage. Caves visited are listed in 
Table 1. 
Table 1. List of caves where collections were taken. All collections were made by 
the authors except for Mill Run, Nelson, and Cave Hollow caves where 
the collections were made by Dr. J.R. Holsinger. All caves are in the 
Monongahela River drainage except Linwood Cave, which is in the Elk 
River drainage. Cave locations and descriptions are in Davies (1965) and 
Medville and Medville (1972). 
Cave 
County 
C cannulus 
C. holsingeri 
Sampling dates 
Alpena No. 1 
Randolph 
X 
X 
VIII/78 
Bazzle 
Randolph 
X 
V/73 
Bowden 
Randolph 
X 
X 
VII/78, 11/79, H/80 
Cave Hollow 
Tucker 
X 
III/61, VII/63, V/80 
Glady 
Randolph 
X 
X 
VII/78, 11/79,11/80 
Harman 
Randolph 
X 
V/73, 11/79, 11/80 
Harper 
Tucker 
X 
X 
11/80 
Mill Run 
Tucker 
X 
X' 
VII/67 
Nelson 
Randolph 
X 
VII/67, 11/80 
Linwood 
Pocahontas 
X 
VII/78, 11/79,11/80 
' Male second pleopods, the critical taxonomic character, were not removed, but the bi- 
modal size distribution is strong presumptive evidence that both species were present. 
In four caves (Bowden, Glady, Harman and Linwood) stream 
gravels were collected from riffles where isopods were found. Gravels 
were sorted by diameter into 0.3 cm intervals up to 2.5 cm. The larger 
gravels were divided into those less than and greater than 5 cm in 
diameter. 
