SummarySeventy‐six cases of squamous‐cell carcinoma of the anus are reviewed—11 of these were classified as anal‐margin tumors and 65 as anal‐canal carcinomas. Fifty‐nine of these were available for five‐year follow‐up, ten having been treated within the last five years, and seven were lost to follow‐up. The five‐year survival rate for nine patients with neoplasms arising at the anal margin was 67 per cent (six survivors) and for 50 patients with anal‐canal neoplasms, 32 per cent (16 survivors). Radiotherapy proved unsatisfactory, and radical excision was the only method of treatment which carried reasonable prospects of cure.