246 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XXI, April 1967 
It would seem that with the accession of 
Snyder’s insight into the problem, the valid 
name was destined for stability. However, 
Jordan, Evermann, and Clark (1930) repeated 
the earlier error of Jordan and Evermann 
(1898) by including Cottopsis parvus as a 
synonym of Cottus gulosus. In a similar man- 
ner, they also incorporated the error of Ever- 
mann and Goldsborough (1907^), previously 
cited, by including the misidentified specimens 
of asper from Loring and Boca de Quadra, 
Alaska, in the list of records for gulosus. In 
the same work, Jordan and Evermann extended 
the range of asper (cited in 1898 as: "streams 
of the Cascade Range, from Vancouver Island 
to Oregon”) by appending the phrase "south 
to Sacramento River.” Evermann and Clark 
(1931) also retained Cottopsis parvus in the 
synonymy of C. gulosus and perpetuated Jor- 
dan’s misidentification of the San Luis Cr. 
gulosus, which Hubbs had correctly re-identi- 
fied as asper ten years before (1921). 
Schultz and DeLacy’s catalogue (1936) in- 
cluded a comprehensive listing of Washington 
and Oregon localities for C. asper. However, 
some remain doubtful since Schultz and DeLacy 
frequently misidentified C. asper as gulosus 
and/or per plexus. They also incorrectly main- 
tained the presence of C. gulosus in Alaska. 
Robins and Miller (1957) presumably over- 
looked the earlier citation of Rutter (1908) 
and removed Cottopsis parvus from the syn- 
onymy of gulosus, placing it in the synonymy 
of asper, supposedly for the first time. 
McAllister and Lindsey (1959) first sug- 
gested the probable existence of "coastal” and 
"non-coastal” populations of Cottus asper on 
the basis of morphological and, perhaps, be- 
havioral differences. 
Bond (1961) hinted at the possibility of 
polytypy in Cottus asper when he stated in his 
key that the body is "well covered with prickles, 
especially in inland waters and in young in- 
dividuals from coastal waters.” Bond (1963) 
gave the most comprehensive treatment yet 
recorded for Cottus asper and 12 other species 
in the genus. His study, however, was more 
concerned with interspecific rather than intra- 
specific relationships within the genus. Bailey 
and Bond (1963) indicated their concern for 
the supraspecific relationships within the genus 
Cottus by their recognition of several species 
groups, one of which is the " asper species 
group.” 
Krejsa (1965) offered morphological, be- 
havioral, and distributional evidence for genetic 
divergence between "coastal” and "inland” 
populations of C. asper. Bohn and Hoar 
(1965) offered physiological evidence in sup- 
port of Krejsa’ s hypothesis. Unfortunately, 
their brief introductory remarks regarding the 
life histories and prickling patterns are some- 
what inaccurate, and therefore misleading, in- 
terpretations of Krejsa’ s unpublished thesis. 
These minor points will be clarified in a future 
publication. 
DISTRIBUTION 
Range. Pacific Slope drainage of North Am- 
erica: coastal streams from Seward, Alaska, to 
Ventura R., California; lakes and streams of 
the Queen Charlotte Islands and Vancouver 
Island; and all major Pacific drainages from 
the headwaters of the Stikine R. in British 
Columbia, to the Kern R., San Joaquin R. 
drainage, California. The following are ex- 
ceptions: Fraser R. in the area of the Rocky 
Mountain Trench, east of Prince George, 
British Columbia (area not yet collected) ; 
Kootenay Lake drainage of the Columbia R. in 
British Columbia; Upper Snake R. of the Co- 
lumbia R. drainage in Washington and Ore- 
gon; Middle Fork of the Willamette R. in 
Oregon, above Oakridge ; Klamath R. Basin 
in Oregon; and Sacramento R. drainages above 
Lake Shasta, California. Arctic Slope drainage 
of North America: headwaters of the Peace R. 
in British Columbia: from Summit L. to 
McLeod L., Crooked R. drainage; from 
Tacheeda L., Parsnip R. drainage; from 
Tchentlo L., Nation R. drainage. 
The present distributional range of Cottus 
asper is illustrated in Figure 1. 
REFERENCES 
Bailey, R. M., and C. E. Bond. 1963. Four 
new species of freshwater sculpins, genus 
Cottus, from western North America. Occas. 
Papers Mus. Zool. Univ. Mich. 634:1-27. 
— and M. F. Dimick. 1949. Cottus 
