Necturus lewisi Study: Introduction 3 



this broader emphasis we learned not only a great deal about N. lewisi 

 and its habitat, but also about its associates. Comments concerning 

 some of these associates are provided later in this paper. 



REVIEW OF SOME PREVIOUS STUDIES 



Much of the earlier information on N. lewisi resides in unpublished 

 sources such as the theses of Hecht (1953) and Fedak (1971), or is 

 dispersed in published and unpublished sources that are not readily 

 available. The following is a brief chronological review (with annotation 

 as appropriate) of some of the more pertinent literature and unpub- 

 lished manuscripts that have appeared since N lewisi was described. See 

 Braswell and Ashton (this issue) for review of the literature that deals 

 specifically with distribution and habitat. 



C. S. Brimley (1924) described Necturus maculosus from the Neuse 

 River near Raleigh, basing his description largely on specimens col- 

 lected in the Raleigh area since 1894. Nearly all of Brimley's specimens 

 were caught on hook and line by fishermen. A number of specimens, 

 including the holotype (USNM 73848), were brought to Brimley by 

 Frank B. Lewis, hence the patronym. Brimley noted that N m. lewisi 

 was smaller than N. m. maculosus, and had spotted as opposed to 

 striped juveniles (less than 3.5 inches long). 



Bishop (1926) and Cahn and Shumway (1926) described the adults 

 and postlarvae or juveniles of N. m. lewisi, but the descriptions of the 

 larvae left a great deal to be desired. In his tentative revision of the 

 genus Necturus, Viosca (1937) elevated lewisi to species rank, saying (p. 

 120) "a study of North Carolina specimens has convinced me that Brim- 

 ley's form lewisi, described as a subspecies of maculosus, merits full 

 specific rank...." This decision was largely based on the ventral spotting 

 pattern, which differed from that of both N. maculosus and N beyeri in 

 size, number, and color of spots, and on comparative numbers of teeth. 

 Viosca examined 1 1 juveniles and 4 larvae, described the larval pattern 

 and coloration, and mentioned that, among other features, the dorsum 

 lacked spots. He further noted that both dorsal and ventral spotting 

 increase with age, and are well defined at a length of 90 mm, but failed 

 to indicate whether this was snout-vent length (SVL) or total length 

 (TL). Viosca (1937) erroneously gave Brimley's field number (CSB 6868) 

 as the USNM catalogue number of the holotype (USNM 73848). 



Brimley (1939) considered N. lewisi a full species, but Bishop (1941) 

 retained the trinomial combination. Later, however, Bishop (1943) 

 accepted species rank for N. lewisi, provided the first photograph of an 

 adult (a female from Little River, Neuse River basin), and gave a 

 detailed account of pattern, dentition, and coloration. He also described 

 a male with swollen cloaca, collected by Lewis on 24 March 1920, and 

 an egg-laden female that Lewis collected on 8 April 1919. These speci- 



