Description
Oronites from Messages from Mars, By Aid of the Telescope Plant (1892) by Robert D. Braine.
Unlike the other entries in this series, I haven’t read the book this comes from, as there aren’t any copies available. However, I read a second-hand description of these creatures in Imagining Mars: A Literary History by Robert Crossley and I couldn’t resist.
"They are ten feet tall, have very large eyes that constantly and subtly change hue as they "speak", and enjoy ten fingers to each hand and ten long finger-like toes on each foot (all of which, he later learns, come into play in their complex musical performances). The Oronites have no mouths but do have a three-foot-long proboscis, abundant tawny hair resembling a lion’s mane, and a pointed white horn growing from their foreheads. All food is liquid, taken once a day from a special elixir of nutrients stored in a gigantic reservoir, and sucked through the nostrils of the proboscis."