. Bulletin of the Natural History Museum Zoology. 160 JENKINS AND GOODMAN. Fig. 5 View down old road in the Vohibasia Forest that was cut for geological exploration. Note the relatively dense understorey and sandy soils lacking leaf litter or humus. The trapping site of Microgale nasoloi was to the right of the road and about 10 m into the forest. (Photograph by S. M. Goodman). isolated mountain of Analavelona rising to over 1300 m (FTM, 1979). On the basis of earlier botanical classifications, Humbert & Cours Darne (1965) described the upper zone of the Analavelona Forest as low
. Bulletin of the Natural History Museum Zoology. 160 JENKINS AND GOODMAN. Fig. 5 View down old road in the Vohibasia Forest that was cut for geological exploration. Note the relatively dense understorey and sandy soils lacking leaf litter or humus. The trapping site of Microgale nasoloi was to the right of the road and about 10 m into the forest. (Photograph by S. M. Goodman). isolated mountain of Analavelona rising to over 1300 m (FTM, 1979). On the basis of earlier botanical classifications, Humbert & Cours Darne (1965) described the upper zone of the Analavelona Forest as low sclerophyllous forest ('Foret basse sclerophylle'), surrounding areas of low-lying forests to the east ( Zombitse- Vohibasia) as dry dense forest ('foret dense seche') and to the west as Didiereaceae and Euphorbia bush ('Didiereacees et Euphorbia haut fourre'). The nearest low sclerophyllous forest to the Analavelona Massif is in the Isalo range, about 110 km to the east. Thus, according to this classification the massif holds a different flora from the immediately surrounding forests. On the eastern side of the Analavelona Massif the foothills start at about 600 m, and the lower limit of the forest is at about 1000 m and runs to the upper reaches of the mountain. On the basis of botanical research conducted in this forest by Nathalie Messmer and Pierre Jules Rakotomalaza during the March 1998 expedition to the site, in the lower altitudinal portion of the forest massive emergent Ficus and Eugenia trees with diameter at breast height of 95-110 cm reach heights of up to 25 m. The generic composition of these forest trees indicate that the site is a mixture of eastern humid and western deciduous forest. Considerable ground humus and leaf litter and some epiphytic plants are present, the understorey is open and small streams drain the steep hills. These characteristics are unlike sclerophyllous forest, therefore the classification presented by Humbert & Cours Darne (1965)
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