flow T became an Idler. ey 
Speaking of this serpent with 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 pupil in 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 the 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 given for the feeling 
is that an afimal of that kind looks like a vile copy 
of ourselves, or like a parody maliciously designed 
to mock us. It igs 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 itis true that there is something human in the 
faces of this and perhaps of other pit-vipers, and of 
