Tail-Squatting

The Man Who Counts, X.

Told to sit, the Diomedean Rodonis squats on her tail. (p. 206) I thought that only Merseians did that. See Haguan. However, a search of the blog reveals that Vanessans do also. See Meeting An Alien.

I cannot visualize these aliens. The most difficult are the Ythrians. Their original legs have become arms and they now walk, awkwardly, on the claws at the edges of their folded wings. I imagine a man stumbling clumsily on short stilts.

Reading, we can forget whatever description was given of an ET. In fact, I have to reread if I want to remind myself of what they are meant to look like. In a screen adaptation, each ET would be visibly present. It would be a completely different experience. The only good thing about the John Carter film was that it put ERB's green Martians, their thoats, calots etc on the cinema screen.