Venusian (A Honeymoon in Space)

The Venusians are a race of sapient six-limbed flying humanoids and the native inhabitants of the planet Venus, a paradisiacal mountainous green land with silver-colored oceans.

Biology and culture
While they appear vaguely human-like, they're built far more lightly and have an extra pair of long, thin arms protruding from their shoulder blades. Their wings are formed by a large flexible membrane which connects the upper and lower arms and continues down to the ankles. Said membrane is mostly covered by light feathery down, with true feathers growing on the edge. The wings are colored white on the inside but golden on the backside. Both males and females dress in clothes that look like divided tunics made of some silk-like material which comes in several colors. Their average height varies between 5' and 5' 6" (circa 1.52 to 1.67 meters).

When on land, they walk in a fashion which Lady Redgrave described as being "just like us, only much more prettily!". She also describes their "funny little faces" as being "half bird, half human" with "soft, downy feathers in place of hair". Their hands have only four fingers, including a thumb, but these are described as too soft and plump to be very well-suited for manual labor. Still, they must have some way of manufacture since they have cities and clothing.

The Venusians are enormously curious but completely peaceful and communicate in a song-like language. They have a gesture of bowing their bodies forward, expanding their wings and bringing them together over their breasts, which is used to express deep admiration and respect. They spend their entire lives below the dense clouds which cover Venus' mountains and valleys, and never rise above the clouds during flight as exposure to direct sunlight is known to hurt them.

Appearances

 * A Honeymoon in Space, by George Griffith (1901)