1875.] THE SECRETARY ON ADDITIONS TO THE MENAGERIE. 8&1 
February 16, 1875. 
George Busk, Esq., F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. 
The Secretary read the following report on the additions to the 
Society’s Menagerie during the month of January 1875. 
The total number of registered additions to the Society’s Mena- 
gerie during the month of January was 75, of which 34 were by 
presentation, 33 by purchase, 1 by exchange, 2 by birth, and 5 were 
received on deposit. The total number of departures during the 
same period, by death and removals, was 74. 
The most noticeable additions during the month of January were 
as follows :— 
1. A Silver-backed Jackal (Canis chama, Smith), presented by 
Mr. H. B. N. Good on the 6th of January. Mr. Good informs me 
that he obtained the animal at the diamond-fields in Griqualand West, 
from a Dutch Boer, in November 1874. It had heen caught near 
the Boer’s farm some time previously ; and Mr. Good has seen others 
of the same species in the same district. 
This species of Canis appears to be very little known. It was 
described in 183% by Sir Andrew Smith (South-African Quart. 
Journ. ii. p. 89*). 
I have never seen a living example of this species before, and am 
only acquainted with the specimen in the British Museum, which is 
one of the types received from Sir A. Smith. It is remarkable for 
its large pointed ears, resembling those of the Fennec (Canis cerdo) 
and Syrian Fennec (Canis famelicus), of which we have also living 
specimens in the Gardens. It is also in other respects a strongly 
marked and very distinct species, as will be seen by the drawing 
(Plate XVII.) of the present specimen, made by Mr. Smit. 
* This work is so very scarce that I think it may be useful to reprint the 
original description. 
“ Canis chama, Smith (The Asse). Muzzle, centre of face, and top of head 
yellowish brown, variegated by an intermixture of bristly hairs annulated black 
and white; sides of head a uniform whitish yellow; upper lip, towards angles 
of mouth, lower lip, and ehin blackish brown; whiskers and edges of eyelids 
black; ears large, outer surfaces yellowish red, immer margined with white 
hairs, elsewhere bare. Woolly hairs of neck and body abundant, their tips 
reddish white or yellowish white, elsewhere a dull smoke-colour ; bristly hairs 
abundant on back of neck and centre of back, on sides, shoulders, and outsides 
of thighs less numerous, all annulated black and white, the tips black. x- 
tremities yellowish white, inclined to white on their anterior surfaces; a large 
brownish-black blotch on the posterior surface of each hinder extremity, about 
halfway between the feet and base of tail. Underparts of neck and body whitish 
yellow. ‘Tail very bushy, the prevailing colour yellowish white, the upper 
surface towards base variegated with bristly hairs annulated black and white ; 
the black, about three inches from the root, is so disposed as to give an appear- 
ance of one or two waved transverse black stripes ; from thence to the point the 
bristly hairs are all tipped with black, and at the very extremity of the tail they 
are almost entirely of that colour, so that it appears perfectly black. Length, 
from nose to base of tail, 23 inches ; length of tail 13 inches; height at shoulder 
12 inches, at rump 13 inches. 
TInhabits Namaqualand and the country on both sides of the Orange river. 
Proc. Zoou. Soc.—1875, No. VI. 6 
