J.D. Anderson 1958 Journal July 5 Valencia Lagoon, Rio del Mar, Santa Cruz Co., Calif. Left Berkeley at 7:30 pm with Dot Wilhoft. Drove by usual route arriving at Rio del Mar at about 9:30 am. The "lagoon" is drying up fast. Water is restricted to the central area beginning at least (west) large willow down to DD willow clump. Some pools are disjoined from main pool which runs from a meadow (cool, moist) tule patch to a few yards west DD willow. Nowhere is water more than 8" deep & most places in between 5-6" deep. Dug our coat with low fog so water so cool. Both of us worked all the pools which are quite clear, much clearer than almost anytime to date. Saw only Hyla + Rana tadpoles plus the usual Notonecta's, Corixids & Belostomatids etc. We turned mats of Potamigeron which lay alongside pools hoping to turn up metamorphosing Ambystoma. No luck using this method. Tried turning mats which were a little further away from the water, thinking that perhaps the Ambystoma do not go under cover until things get really dry. Mats 25-50 ft from water were examined carefully. We found Hyla regilla, newly transformed, to be very abundant under these. Ground under mats is rock & muddy. Found a coiled Thamnophis under a large mat. Ch. temp 17.5°C. Forced it to regurgitate its stomach contents. First oil was a recently ingested tiny Hyla regilla & next was a newly metamorph. Ambystoma m. croceum (spec. saved for measurement, though partly digested). First real record of garter snake