BULLETIN FLORIDA STATE MUSEUM


 The fact that some individuals of cornutus and albeolus cannot
be distinguished does not disprove their specific distinction. Differ-
ences in color and in other features of body pigmentation, in size of
the anterior dorso-lateral scales, and in body shape all argue for
specific recognition.
 DISTRmBUTION. Restricted to the Roanoke River system (including
the Chowan) in Virginia and North Carolina, parts of the New River
system in Virginia and West Virginia, and to the upper parts of the
Neuse, Tar, and Cape Fear systems in North Carolina.
 The apparent scarcity of albeolus from the more lowland tribu-
taries of the Neuse, Tar, and Cape Fear drainages probably is due
mainly to lack of collecting. Most of the specimens examined from
these systems were taken during the spring when the streams are
usually high, particularly those in the area below the Fall line. Re-
cent autumn collections from the lowland areas indicate that this
species is, in fact, fairly common there.
 In recent years N. albeolus apparently has come to occupy a much
more extensive area of the New River system than formerly. Jordan
(1889b: 140-141) did not record it in his 1888 collections from Reed
Creek, near Wytheville, Virginia, yet the species is plentiful there
today. Carl L. Hubbs failed to take it in Wolf Creek, Bland County,
Virginia in 1936, where it was collected both in 1953 and 1956 (UMMZ
169176 and UMMZ 174433). A series of 25 specimens (USNM 177876),
Frank J. Schwartz collected in the Greenbrier River near Caldwell,
Greenbrier County, West Virginia 13 October 1956 also represents
a record for an area where this form was not previously recorded,
despite rather intensive collecting both by Hubbs and John Addair
during the 1930's. Although these range extensions may have resulted
from human introduction, the fish could equally plausibly have found
their way without help.
 LIFE HISTORY AND ECOLOGY. No detailed work on the ecology
or life history of N. albeolus has been published. The only data that
have appeared consist of general habitat descriptions or collection
sites.
 This species seems to prefer the same habitat as N. cornutus,
cool, clear, medium-sized streams with alternating riffles, flowing
pools, and a rubble to rocky bottom. Although it is usually collected
at the foot of riffles in midwater, it may on occasion be found in
quite dissimilar situations. Some 28 specimens (UMMZ 174749) I
collected in the Otter River, Campbell County, Virginia on 12 June
1956 were living in very warm, turbid, swift water on a bottom com-


Vol. 8