114 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



almost as many genera as species." This variability has resulted in the publica- 

 tion of descriptions of several probably synonymous species. A single species of 

 Sculpin occurs in Colorado. 



Subfamily Cottinae 



Genus COTTUS (Artedi) Linnaeus 



The Fresh-Water Sculpins 



Cottus Artedi, Genera Piscium, p. 40, 1738. 



Coitus Linnaeus, Systema Naturae, ed. X, p. 264, 1758. 



Scales wanting; skin rather smooth; prickles when present most abundant 

 near the axils of the pectoral fins; each ventral fin with I short, concealed spine 

 and 4 soft rays. 



The species of this genus occur in the fresh waters of North America, Asia 

 and Europe. 



Cottus punctulatus (Gill) 

 Rocky Mountain Bullhead, Sculpin (Figs. 53 and 54) 



Potamocoltus punctulatus Gill, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., p. 40, 1861 (Bridget's Pass, 

 Wyoming) . 



Cottopsis semiscaber Cope, Hayden's Survey of Montana for 1871, p. 476, 1872 (Fort Hall, 

 Idaho). 



Uranidea vheeleri Cope, Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, p. 138, 1847 (Bear River, Utah); Cope and 

 Yarrow, Wheeler Survey, Vol. V, p. 696, 1875 (Pagosa, Colorado). 



Coitus bairdi punctulatus (Gill)- — Jordan, Bull. U.S. Fish Com., Vol. IX, p. 29, 1889 (Eagle 

 River; Roaring Fork; Gunnison, Delta; Rio Florida; Leitner's Creek; Rio de las Animas 

 Perdidas) . 



Cottus semiscaber (Cope) — Jordan and Evermann, Bull. 47, U.S. Nat. Mus., p. 1949, 1898 

 (Eagle River, Gypsum). 



Body elongate, somewhat compressed posterior to the origin of the pectorals; 

 depth about 5 in the length to the base of the caudal; head large, broad and 

 distinctly depressed, its width almost equal to its length, which is 3 to 3 . 25 in the 

 length to the base of the caudal, depth of the head 2 or a little more in its breadth; 

 eye large, 5. 5 to 6. 5 in the head, directed latero-dorsally; nostrils small, widely 

 separated, each borne by a short, elevated tube, the posterior being about half the 

 diameter of the eye in front of the eye and the anterior about the same distance 

 below the posterior, the tube of the posterior longer and more elevated, its posterior 

 margin produced and pointed; snout broad and flat; mouth broad and very large, 

 angle of the mouth reaching the level of the anterior margin of the eye; pre- 

 maxiUaries protractile; opercular structure firm and bony, a well-developed, 

 somewhat elevated preopercular bony process; spinous and soft dorsals separate, 

 base of the spinous dorsal i . 75 in the base of the soft dorsal; dorsal spines VIII 

 or IX, 17 or 18; pectorals very large, reaching to or beyond the level of the last 

 dorsal spine, equal to the length of the head, tips of the first nine rays curved 

 upward and exceeding the web of the fin, thus producing a serrate margin; ventrals 



