droppings, I doubt that desert rats lived in any area seen by me. Refueled in Molarque at 1 p.m., then 5 hrs of miserable dusty road through miserable gout-infested route to 10 km SE Barrenea. Only 4 cars on the road, one of them out of gas. Camped in Barras/ Ephedra (mistletoe)/thorn legume. Ante/pint out 12 NS and two steel traps (guinea pig droppings). Night calm, clear. Dec. 2 Clear, nothing in traps. Drove to Chos Mdel (10 a.m.), Questioned 4 people about "medanos" near the town and none knew about them, or about tucos-tucos. One informant said he was from San Luis and was familiar with tucos and that there were some near Chos Mdel. As we left the town and crossed the Rio Neuquen, there were good sand dunes on the south side of the river just over the bridge. We could find no evidence of tucos2, however, either in the dunes or in the scrubby habitat nearby. Certainly no contact of 2 species, a la Budin, at that spot. Drove south on Route 40, mostly unpaved, mostly gout country, and camped under the willows of Elsen Cura. Cool, almost calm. Ante/pint two cage traps at the runway where she caught maranosa last year. Dec. 3 Clear, cool. A bigpoint Elegans ante in the traps. At about morning a tucos-tuco called several times near our sleeping, answered by another one nearby. The call was a guttural "burrip, burrips followed