MALACOPTERYGII APODES. 557 



suffering and of fear. They were no longer seen to fall 

 backwards ; and the eels swimming with the body half out 

 of the water, and now flying from the horses instead of at- 

 tacking them, began themselves, in their turn, to approach 

 the shore." 



The temperature of the water in which these eels were 

 found, is 26. of the centigrade thermometer. M. de Hum- 

 boldt believes that the feeble state of the individuals brought 

 to Europe alive, and the short duration of their existence, 

 was owing to the coldness of the water in which they were 

 preserved. It was supposed that the load-stone could deprive 

 these animals of their electric power, but this is a mistake. 

 The gymnotus, though so formidable from the peculiar means 

 of defence afforded it by the Author of nature,.is by no means 

 a fierce or voracious animal. 



All the fishes of which we have hitherto spoken, not only 

 have the skeleton osseous or fibrous, and the jaws complete 

 and free, but their gills are constantly in the form of lamina;, 

 or combs (laminiform and pectiniform). 



