Today,  Tula  is  not  considered  such  a  bad  place  for Xiphophorus  researchers. Only 15 years ago we learned of a level path through the barrier range that leads to a valley at 1000-m elevation, only 20-km distant, with a small stream teaming with swordtails, X. nezahualcoyotl. Early in April the expedition arrived in Veracruz, where they  stored  the  model  T.  From  there  they  proceeded  in relative comfort by local train to El Hule, which had been renamed Papaloapan. For a belated impression of the joys of riding this train, the reader is referred to Theroux (1979). Papaloapan lies near the fall line. To the east of the railroad track  stretches  the  low  coastal  plain  with  its  enormous swamps, muddy lagoons, and oxbows, and to the west we find the beginning of the Piedmont of the Sierra Madre del Sur.  Today,  a  narrow  vehicle  bridge  crosses  the  river  at Papaloapan with a toll station at its southern (Oaxaca) side. Truck  traffic  on  the  road  is  as  busy  as  on  the  New  Jersey Turnpike because it provides the least mountainous access to Puebla and Mexico City from the southern states. A new superhighway built through the marshes 30 km to the east is barely used because of its excessive toll rates. But in 1932 the area was a sleepy backwater. The Stan- dard  Fruit  Company  had  banana  plantations  in  this  area with  wonderful  facilities  for  its  administrative  staff.  With letters of introduction to military and civil authorities, the second Cornell expedition was taken in by the Fruit Com- pany and installed like royalty. After camping out for nearly a month, it felt wonderful. “The perfect service and comfort of our headquarters meant more to us than a paid-up, de luxe suite of rooms at Sun Valley Lodge” (Gordon, 1940). The company’s officers must have looked on the three New Yorkers as strange little fish, indeed, to have traveled 3000 miles  to  catch  1-inch-long  fish!  Every  facility  of  the  com- pany  was  placed  at  Dr.  Gordon’s  disposal:  vehicles,  boats, horses, and guides. Three days’ fishing effort yielded not a single  platyfish.  Gordon  had  not  yet  discovered  its  exact ecological  niche.  He  thought  platyfish,  being  rather  broad and somewhat deep-bodied, could not be a stream fish, but must  prefer  quiet  waters  without  current.  So  he  concen- trated  on  the  nearby  oxbows  and  swamps.  From  my  own experience, I know how utterly depressing it can be to have come  so  far  and  fished  for  many  days  without  catching  a single  specimen.  Myron  must  have  felt  likewise,  but  he merely  wrote  they  were  “quite  discouraged.”  Eventually, they headed upstream by boat from company headquarters and entered the Rio Tonto and one of its little side streams. And there Gordon caught his first X. maculatus! Excitedly,  and  no  doubt  with  satisfaction,  he  tele- graphed his success to Cornell. On April 17, 1932, the New York Times  carried a long article with the headlines: “Can- cerous Fish Found in Mexico,” “Oaxaca Jungle Pierced.” A direct  quotation  from  the  telegram  reads,  “We  found  by actual count ninety-nine platyfish, some of which are sus- piciously suffering with a small degree of melanosis. There is one in which the condition is well seen.” And of course the publicity hounds of Cornell sprang into action and added that the Cornell expedition attained its  objective,  “deep  in  the  jungle  recesses  of  the  Mexican state of Oaxaca.” In reality, the jungle had been long gone and the only Xiphophorus person, if we may call him that, to rhapsodize about the luxuriant vegetation was C.B. Heller, a 21-year-old German botanist who landed in Veracruz in 1845  (Siemens,  1990).  One  of  his  objectives  had  been  to scout  for  areas  suitable  for  German  colonists,  and  while doing  so  he  collected  in  the  Rio  Blanco  drainage  the  first swordtail,  which  now  carries  his  name.  This  river  is  the northernmost tributary to the Rio Papaloapan estuary, and the  general  area  where  Heller  found  the  swordtail  is  ap- proximately 100 km northwest of the village where Gordon caught his first platyfish. The  next  day,  the  platyfish  and  also  some  swordtails were placed in the cans and successfully shipped by railroad to a commercial fish breeder in New Orleans. Later in the summer when it was warm up north, they were reshipped to Cornell.  “Melanotic”  platyfish,  however,  were  not  to  be. Closer examination later showed that the darker fish merely had a well-expressed spot-sided pattern, and the single most heavily pigmented one exhibited a new pattern, called spot- ted-belly,  Sb  (Gordon  and  Smith,  1938a),  or  black- bottomed  (Gordon,  1948),  but  there  was  no  melanosis.  It remains the only Sb fish that has ever been caught in the Rio Papaloapan drainage, although fish with somewhat similar patterns have been taken in some of the river systems to the east  (Kallman,  1975).  Next  day  the  expedition  members packed their bags and retraced their steps to Mexico City to collect goodeid fishes on the Mexican Plateau to satisfy their sponsors in the aquarium trade. Later, before the return trip north,  Myron  inquired  at  the  Mexican  Automobile  Asso- ciation  about  the  new  road  being  constructed  beyond  the old  towns  of  Zimapan  and  Jacala  to  Tamazunchale  at  the foot  of  the  Sierra  Madre;  they  were  not  going  to  pass through Tula again. Assured that on average 12 cars per day traveled  over  this  road,  the  expedition  opted  for  the  new highway (Gordon, 1933). For  160  km  beginning  just  beyond  Zimapan  the  road passes from 2000-m elevation through lush forests of pine, The  Xiphophorus  Problem S9 Next >>