532 THE SECRETARY ON ADDITIONS TO THE MENAGERIE. [JunC 19, 



male, very tame, and in excellent health, and is now growing a pair 

 of those singular horns which render it so easily distinguishable 

 from the common Fallow Deer. 



7. An animal sold to us on the 29th May by Mr. Arthur Mosenthal 

 as a Cheetah, but which appears to belong to a new species of the 

 genus Felis, distinct from, although closely allied to that animal. 



It is a male, probably not quite fully grown. It presents generally 

 the appearance of a Cheetah (Felis Jubata), but is thicker in the 

 body, and has shorter and stouter limbs, and a much thicker tail. 

 "When adult it will probably be considerably larger than the Cheetah, 

 and is larger even now than our three specimens of that animal. 

 The fur is much more woolly and dense than in the Cheetah, as is 

 particularly noticeable on the ears, mane and tail. The whole of 

 the body is of a pale isabelline colour, rather paler on the belly and 

 lower parts, but covered all over, including the belly, with roundish 

 dark fulvous blotches. There are no traces of the black spots which 

 are so conspicuous in all the varieties of the Cheetah which I have 

 seen, nor of the characteristic black line between the mouth and eye. 



Until we know more about this animal, and further examples of 

 it have been obtained, it is perhaps too early to say that we have 

 here a new species amongst the larger Cats; but after having looked 

 through the descriptions of the varieties of the Cheetah given by 

 different authors, aud having especially studied the descriptions of 

 the Felis jubata and F. guttata, as distinguished by Wagner, I 

 believe it impossible to associate the present animal with any of them, 

 and I propose to give it the temporary designation of Felis lanea 

 or Woolly Cheetah. Mr. Mosenthal informs me that tiiis animal, 

 though shipped at Cape Town, was originally procured from Beaufort 

 West in the Cape Colony. It is difficult to understand how such a 

 distinct animal can have so long escaped the observations of naturahsts. 



Mr. Bartlett, by whom my attention was first directed to it, tells me 

 that he has examined many Cheetah's skins from Africa, but never 

 saw one any thing like that of the present animal. We have had in 

 the collection Cheetahs from South Africa, Eastern Africa, Syria, and 

 India, and have no doubt they all belong to one species. At the 

 present moment we have in the Gardens examples of both African and 

 Indian forms. 



Mr. Smit's drawing (Plate LV.), together with the preceding 

 notes, will, I trust, serve to make the differences between i^e/t's lanea 

 and F. jubata intelligible to naturalists \ 



' At first one might be inclined to suppose that our animal was the Felis 

 jubata of Duvemoy (M6m. Mus. d'H. N. Strasbourg, ii. p. 10), as distinguished 

 by him from Felis guttata, as follows : — 



"he felis jtihata se distingue par unrobe jaune nankin parsemee partotit, meme 

 inus le ventre, de taches rondes, de couleur foncee. II Test encore par des formes 

 plus epaisses et une assez forte criniere. 



" Jje felis guttata en differe par des formes plus greles, des jambes phis hautes, 

 son pelage d'unfauve orange fonce ou c\sdv, piarsem6 de taches rondes et noires, 

 pxceple en dessous, ou il est quelquefois d'un blanc pur et sans aucune tacbe ou 

 D*en a que de ternes." 



But on looking more narrowly into Duverno/s description, particularly to his 



