Ionized carbon in the Large Magellanic Cloud

We have observed the 158 micron ^2^P_3/2_-^2^P_1/2_ fine-structure transition of C^+^ at selected locations in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The C II emission is most intense toward far-infrared continuum peaks and generally is not seen in positions exhibiting strong CO J = 2-1 radiation. Where both C II and CO emission are detected, the V_LSR_ centroids are similar but the C II line is wider. The differences in spatial distribution and spectral shape suggest a more pronounced physical separation between the predominantly neutral atomic and molecular gas regions than is the case in our Galaxy. In the LMC, the intense and extended C II emission near 30 Dor implies a total amount of C^+^ several times greater than that of Galactic molecular cloud complexes. We also attempted to detect the 289 micron J = 9-8 transition of ^12^CO in a few locations. The observed upper intensity limit for N159 implies that moderate density (n > 4 x 10^4^ cm^-3^) molecular gas fills less than 5% of our beam and that most of the low J CO emission comes from lower density gas.