MADAGASCAR (III)—CONTD. 287 
by is out of sight, then, its curiosity satisfied, it retreats and con- 
tinues its slumber. It is one of the few mammals that is unafraid 
of man, an indication that it has been little persecuted. 
After a few weeks at Lake Anongy I left on foot for Bevilany, 
about sixteen miles to the northeast. Only a few days were spent 
here while exploring the countryside for a suitable collecting 
ground. 
In the mountains a few miles to the east of Bevilany there is a 
rapid transition from sub-desert scrub to evergreen rain-forest, 
and in some places one can pass in a few yards from one type to 
the other. The only way to explore these mountains is to dwell on 
the spot, so with little difficulty some natives were induced to 
build me a hut from Traveler’s Palm leaves in a valley beside a 
fresh-water stream. The building operation occupied only three 
days. I found myself quartered in delightful surroundings with 
evergreen foliage on one side and succulents on the other. Nearby 
was an outcrop of rock covered with the most curious rock-plants. 
About fifteen yards away my two Antandroy native servants 
had erected a hut for themselves. Being nomads they had no 
qualms about staying away from a village, and the more primitive 
the conditions the happier they seemed to be. The month spent 
here under a clear blue sky was heavenly. 
This transitional zone yielded some interesting natural history 
forms, and I was able to record the Madagascar Gerbil at the 
eastern limit of its range, which is right on the edge of the rain- 
forest. 
Thus in all I had obtained about ninety specimens of Macro- 
tarsomys stretching over a distance of more than six hundred 
miles through all the scrub-forests from the extreme southeast, 
through the south and southwest, and through the western decidu- 
ous forests as far north as Belo. Prior to this nothing was known 
about this particular animal, and instead of being a plains-dweller 
as was previously supposed, it turned out to be an inhabitant of 
the sub-desert scrub of the south and southwest, and of the 
deciduous forests of the west. In the few places where it is found 
in the plains it is in localities where deciduous forest formerly 
