Hanken, James 1978 Journal Hotel Ruíz, Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico 27 June I am here with Brad Shaffer as part of a joint collecting trip to get animals for our respective thesis research, he for Ambystomatids, myself for Thorius. The trip began on 4 or 5 June in Chicago from which we drove to Tempe, Ariz. for the joint herp meetings. After almost a week we departed for Mexico, crossing the border S of Deming, N.M on ~12 June. From then until yesterday most of our time has been spent collecting Ambystomatids from throughout their range in Mexico, beginning with the Sierra Madre de Occidental of Durango & Chihuahua, south through Zacatecas and Michoacan, then to the Mexican highlands ringing Mexico City, and finally to Rio Frio on the road to Puebla. The collecting was interrupted by 1 1/2 days in Mexico City spent obtaining collecting permits. See Brad's notes for any details up till now. Today we began looking for Thorius by visiting a locality visited by Dave Wake and Jim Lynch 2 years ago from which they obtained 5 specimens of Thorius. Electrophoresis revealed them to be 2 species, and we went back to get more specimens of each. Our locality is 15.5-15.7 mi W (by rd) Zaachila,