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Show 532 T H E S E C R E T A R Y O N A D D I T I O N S T O T H E M E N A G E R I E . [June 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. A n animal sold to us on the 29th M a y 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. W h e n 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, and 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 m e that this 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 naturalists. Mr. Bartlett, by w h o m m y attention was first directed to it, tells m e that he has examined many Cheetah's skins from Africa, but never saw one any thing like that of the present animal. W e 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 Felis lanea and F. jubata intelligible to naturalists \ 1 At first one might be inclined to suppose that our animal was the Felis jubata of Duvernoy (M6ra. Mus. d'H. N. Strasbourg, ii. p. 10), as distinguished by him from Felis guttata, as follows :- " Le felis jubata se distingue par strobe jaune nankin par semec par tout, meme tous le ventre, de taches rondes, de couleur foncee. II Test encore par des formes plus 6paisses et une assez forte crinicre. " Le felis guttata en differe par des formes plus greles, des jambes plus hautes, son pelage d'un fauve orange fonce ou clair, parseme de taches rondes et noires, excepts en dessous, ou il est quelquefois d'un blanc pur et sans aucune tache ou n'en a que de temes." But on looking more narrowly into Duvernoy's description, particularly to his |