diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 6403dc4607..fd265575d9 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+  37.	[bug]		If the first RR in an incoming zone transfer was 
+			not an SOA, the server died with an assertion failure
+			instead of just reporting an error.
+
   36.	[cleanup]	Change DNS_R_SUCCESS (and others) to ISC_R_SUCCESS
 
   35.   [performance]   Log messages which are of a level too high to be
diff --git a/lib/dns/xfrin.c b/lib/dns/xfrin.c
index f1ab2da784..1704f11357 100644
--- a/lib/dns/xfrin.c
+++ b/lib/dns/xfrin.c
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
  * SOFTWARE.
  */
 
-/* $Id: xfrin.c,v 1.59 2000/04/06 22:02:32 explorer Exp $ */
+/* $Id: xfrin.c,v 1.60 2000/04/07 19:38:50 gson Exp $ */
 
 #include <config.h>
 
@@ -405,7 +405,11 @@ xfr_rr(dns_xfrin_ctx_t *xfr,
 		break;
 
 	case XFRST_INITIALSOA:
-		INSIST(rdata->type == dns_rdatatype_soa);
+		if (rdata->type != dns_rdatatype_soa) {
+			xfrin_log(xfr, ISC_LOG_ERROR,
+				  "first RR in zone transfer must be SOA");
+			FAIL(DNS_R_FORMERR);
+		}
 		/*
 		 * Remember the serial number in the intial SOA.
 		 * We need it to recognize the end of an IXFR.