M.F.Smith 1979 JOURNAL 5 mi. S, 2.7 mi. W Truth or Consequences, 4300', Sierra Co., New Mexico Aug.29 Flew from San Francisco to Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Tuesday evening, Aug.28. John and Dave Hafner met me at the airport. Stayed overnight at Dave and Diane's in Albuquerque. John Hafner, Dave Hafner, and I left Albuquerque on Wednesday morning and drove south on Highway 25 on the west side of the Rio Grande River. Our purpose is to collect samples of Thomomys gottae in the zone of contact between the northern type, represented by T.b. conectens from Albuquerque and Bernardo, and T.b. spulenti's, the southern type, from San Marcial and Radium Springs. We decided to collect another reference sample from near Truth or Consequences. Got off the highway at the Cochillo exit and drove east to Elephant Butte, then south west to Truth or Consequences looking for gopher mounds. Drove south from Truth or Consequences on old highway 85 and stopped at Las Palomas to look for mounds in the alfalfa fields. Las Palomas is not a very big town, and there were just a few houses in sight where we stopped. We saw a few mound, then John talked to the rancher and he led us to the other end of the fields, where there was more gopher activity. By late afternoon we had trapped 16 gophers; 6 of these were alive and we kept them in