midt and Shannon
(1947).

The eruption of Volcan Paricutin in February, 1943, attracted the
attention of many biologists, a group of which from the Museum of
Zoology at the University of Michigan collected in the Cordillera
Volcanica in 1945 and 1947. The amphibians and reptiles were collected
and studied by Norman E. Hartweg. In 1950 James A. Peters accompanied
Donald D. Brand on a preliminary exploration of the western part of the
Sierra de Coalcoman and adjacent Pacific coast of Michoacan; in the same
year Peters collected also on the Mexican Plateau and at Volcan Jorullo.
His specimens are in the Museum of Zoology at the University of
Michigan. Since 1950 many biologists have collected in Michoacan in the
course of work on certain groups of animals or in general surveys. In
this way Raymond Alcorn, Robert W. Dickerman, James R. Dixon, Floyd L.
Downs, Emmet T. Hooper, and Robert R. Miller have contributed to our
knowledge of the herpetofauna.

As stated previously, my own field work in Michoacan began in 1951, when
I accompanied Donald D. Brand on an exploring expedition to the
southern part of the state. In that year a short time was spent on the
Mexican Plateau, principally in the area around Lago de Cuitzeo, and at
Volcan Jorullo. In July and August we made our headquarters at
Coalcoman. From that town the field party travelled southward to Maruata
on the Pacific coast and thence back over the mountains to Coalcoman.
Later in that summer we travelled by mule from Coalcoman southeastward
to the mouth of the Rio Nexpa. In 1955, accompanied by Lee D. Beatty,
Carter R. Gilbert, and Fred G. Thompson, I collected in the Tepalcatepec
Valley and at Coalcoman. We made a mule trip from Coalcoman to Cerro de
Barolosa, where we made the first collections from the pine-fir forests
in the Sierra de Coalcoman. Later in the same summer Carter R. Gilbert
and I spent a week at Playa Azul on the Pacific coast. In March, April,
and May, 1956, my wife and I collected for a short time in the
Cordillera Volcanica and on the Mexican Plateau. In early April we moved
into the Tepalcatepec Valley, where we collected intensively between
Churumuco and Tepalcatepec. In May we collected on the Pacific coast
between Boca de Apiza and La Placita. In July and August, 1956,
accompanied by Richard E. Etheridge, we returned to Michoacan and again
collected on the Mexican Plateau and in the Cordillera Volcanica, before
moving into the Tepalcatepec V