are chlorophyll. Mermaid: She was captured in the Gulf of Pei-Chihli the same day as the sea serpent. Her tail is sea-green and sleek scaled; her tail fin is as pink as a trout's. Her hair is seaweed green; her human half is young and slender with slight breasts. Sphinx: A hermaphroditic, African sphinx. Its head is blunt nosed and womanlike; it has breasts like a woman. Chimera: The chimera is male, unlike the chimera of Greek myth; thus, its body is different. Although it has a lion's body and a snake's tail, it has eagle's wings and a metal barb at the end of its tail with which it can strike like a scorpion. (It seems that Finney describes something closer to a manticore.) Sea serpent: He is 80 feet long and dark gray; his tongue is as thick as a man's arm and bright yellow. His eyes are bronze with black slits for pupils. His tail is paddle shaped like a sea snake's. The Sea Serpent is the only animal that did not become tame after being captured. He plans to escape with the mermaid and return to the sea. Werewolf: She starts her transformation as a large gray wolf. ("Not the American lobo. Probably some species from the Carpathians or Urals.") When she transforms, she changes into an old woman, not the young lady the men are expecting. Unicorn: Has a metal "horn". Golden Ass: Lucius Apuleius, who turned into an ass "with the help of Fotis". Reception The paperback edition of 1974 received a positive review in The New York Times, which called the book a "classic American joke", comparing it to the likes of Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce and H. L. Mencken. A contemporary reviewer in Kirkus Reviews was positive, writing, "It's crazy—but I liked it. It's astoundingly learned—but not annoyingly so". The Circus of Dr. Lao was re-issued in 2016 as part of the Fantasy Masterworks series. The 2016 edition was reviewed in Starburst, which called it "an experience you shouldn’t miss and a trip into the dark heart of a Big Top you will never forget". The review also pointed out the influence of Dr. Lao on Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes. Film adaptation The novel was later adapted by Charles Beaumont into the script for an effects-filled 1964 movie 7 Faces of Dr. Lao. The film features a great deal