Necturus Nest and Larvae 21 



deduction that the male present in the nest was attending it and not prey- 

 ing on hatchlings is based on the absence of larvae from the digestive tract 

 and the reluctance of the male to leave the nest. Broader studies which we 

 are now conducting on N. lewisi may provide evidence to corroborate this 

 observation. 



Brimley (1924) stated, "Young specimens of the northern form (N. 

 maculosus) are said to be striped with black, but the smallest of ours that I 

 have seen (measuring only about 3 Vi inches in length) was spotted exact- 

 ly like larger specimens. In view of these facts it would seem fairly ap- 

 parent that the dwarf form occurring at Raleigh is a geographical variant 

 of subspecies of the true maculosus, and I propose for it the name Necturus 

 maculosus lewisi . . ."A similar description of the larva was given by Hecht 

 (1958). Viosca (1937) elevated N. m. lewisi to full species status and stated 

 that 55 mm larvae were dark on the sides and had a light dorsum marked 

 with faint spots. He also indicated that these spots develop into two or 

 three irregular rows as the larvae approach 90 mm, at which length all 

 striping disappears and they attain the adult spotted appearance. We 

 assume that Viosca 's measurements were total lengths, although this was 

 not indicated. If so, his observations compare favorably with ours of live 

 and preserved post-hatchling larvae, confirming that such larvae are quite 

 distinct from those of N. maculosus as illustrated by Bishop (1943), and N. 

 m. louisianensis as described by Shoop (1965). 



The major difference is that N. maculosus post-hatchling larvae have a 

 dark dorsum bordered on each side by a thin, light, dorsolateral stripe. 

 However, newly hatched larvae of both species are indistinguishable from 

 each other. The larvae of Necturus punctatus, a species largely sympatric 

 with N. lewisi although occupying a broader range, are uniformly gray in 

 color with no evident striping (Brimley 1925, Bishop 1943). The dis- 

 tinctive post-hatchling larva of N. lewisi lends added credence to its 

 current recognition as a full species. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. — We wish to express our appreciation to 

 John C. Clamp, Patricia S. Ashton and John E. Cooper, North Carolina 

 State Museum, for their assistance in the field and their reviews of this 

 manuscript; Renaldo Kuhler, North Carolina State Musuem, for his skill 

 in illustrating the larvae; and Joseph R. Bailey, Duke University, for loan 

 of specimens. This study was partly supported by a grant from the 

 Carolina Conservationist program of the N.C. Wildlife Resources 

 Commission. 



