How I became an Idler. i y 



Speaking of this serpent witli a strange name, I 

 recall the fact that Darwin made its acquaintance 

 during his Patagonian rambles about sixty years 

 ago ; and in describing its fierce and hideous aspect, 

 remarks, " I do not think I ever saw anything more 

 ugly, excepting, perhaps, some of the vampire bats." 

 He speaks of the great breadth of the jaws at the 

 base, the triangular snout, and the linear pupilin the 

 midst of the mottled coppery iris, and suggests that 

 its ugly and horrible appearance is due to the re- 

 semblance of its face, in its shape, to tlie human 

 countenance. 



This idea of the ugliness or repulsiveness of an 

 inferior animal, due to its resemblance to man in 

 face, is not, I believe, uncommon ; and I suppose 

 that the reason that would be gfiyen for the feelinof 

 is that an animal of that kind looks like a vile copy 

 of ourselves, or like a parody maliciously designed 

 to mock us. It is an erroneous idea, or, at all 

 events, is only a half-truth, as we recognize at once 

 when we look at animals that are more or less 

 human-like in countenance, and yet cause no repul- 

 sion. Seals may be mentioned — the mermaids and 

 mermen of the old mariners ; also the sloth with 

 its round simple face, to which its human shape im- 

 parts a somewhat comical and pathetic look. Many 

 monkeys seem ugly to us, but we think the lemurs 

 beautiful, and greatly admire the marmosets, those 

 hairy manikins with sprightly, bird-like eyes. And 

 yet it is true that there is something human in the 

 faces of this and perhaps of other pit- vipers, and of 



