] lSi 
Annals of the Tkansvaal Museum. 
The mean annual rainfall for Vatomandry (on the coast between 
latitude 19 and 20 S.) from the years 1902 to 1904, and 1906 to 1910 was 
112 inches, the maximum 122 inches, and the minimum 107J inches. 
Except in those parts where the destructive force of the natives and 
of European forest-concessionaires is in evidence, a luxuriant monsoon 
rain-forest of tropical evergreens clothes the slopes of the mountains, which 
rise to the plateau, and descends over the mamelons and unhealthy plains 
to the coast. 
While travelling from the coast to the interior, the facies of the 
country changes considerably, as much according to the species of trees 
constituting the forests as to the actual lie of the land. In the littoral 
and sub-littoral belts, for instance, such trees as Barringtonia, Terminalia , 
Casuarina (C. equisitifolia ) , Afzelia, Calophyllum , Dracaena are a 
characteristic feature of the vegetation ; and the ebony (Diospyros spp.), 
the rosewood, the palissandre, and other valuable woods still hold their 
own against the inroads of the woodman’s axe ; in the undergrowth in 
this region Pandani are very common, and amongst the most noteworthy 
epiphytes are two fine species of Angroecium ; here also Nepenthes is to 
be seen. 
Ascending the slopes of the mountains one passes through forests of 
a somewhat different nature. Ferns, and especially tree-ferns, are very 
numerous, and constitute the most conspicuous and beautiful components 
of these forests ; palms are comparatively rare. Among the trees typical 
of or common in this upper zone may be mentioned Podocarpus , Symphonia 
and Garcinia, Dombeya , Grewia, Eugenia, Weinmannia, Elaeocarpus* 
The Plateau is for the most part a bare steppe country. The grasses 
belong largely to cosmopolitan species. Its climate is sub-tropical ; the 
Ankaratra mass, which rises to a height just short of 9000 feet, has a 
climate and flora which is almost temperate. 
The rainfall is seasonal, a wet summer and a dry winter obtaining; 
for Tananarive the rainfall has an average of 53 inches (Tananarive Annual). 
Thete can be no doubt but that at one time a dense forest covered this 
Plateau, and there is reason to suppose that the Malagasy destroyed the 
greater part of these woods for the purpose of making rice fields, etc. Now 
in parts only one sees remains of this supposed extensive forest in kloofs 
of the hills, or as isolated patches where the population is thin, as in the 
country lying between Ankazobe and Andriba : in such parts the aspect 
of the country is often park-like. 
The last region to be considered, namely the Western, has the lowest 
rainfall ; at Morondava for the years 1902 and 1903 and 1905 to 1910, the 
average rainfall was 24 inches, the maximum 38 inches, and the minimum 
12*2 inches. At Tulear, which lies in the south-west, the rainfall is still 
lower ; the Jesuit Fathers at Tananarive gave us the following records : — - 
for the year 1902 the rainfall was 11*4 inches, for 1903 175 inches, and 
1904, 29 inches ; the average rainfall for the south-west does not probably 
exceed 16 inches, and in the extreme south, say near Cape St. Marie, the 
’ precipitation is undoubtedly even lower. The rainy season is during the 
months of January and February, and may be prolonged another month 
In mention of the above trees we have relied largely on Baron and Louvel. 
