We are fortunate to have in our possession the Summer/Fall 2003 issue of Wild Earth: The Journal of the Wildlands Project. This issue, “Facing the Serpent, “is devoted to the subject of snakes, and includes essays by E. O. Wilson, Eileen Crist, Harry Greene, Reed Noss, Charles Bowden, and others. This wonderful journal unfortunately ceased publication after a 10-year run. An anthology of articles from the journal was subsequently published, but none of the essays on the “serpent” were included. We particularly want to talk about E. O. Wilson’s essay “The Serpent,” which can be found in a slightly different form in his book Biophilia.