564 ELECTRIC EEL AT THE ADELAIDE GALLERY. 



Alisma natans. Cromlyn bog and near Singleton. 



- ranunculo'ides. Skitty bogs. 



Neottia spiralis. On the Town -bill and Mumbles. 



Listera Nidus-avis. " In a small wood near Pondandive." — Dillwyn. 



Asparagus officinalis. Singleton marsh. 



Scilla verna. " Plentiful about the Mumbles light-house, and the Worms- 

 head.' ' — Dillwyn . 



Juncus acutus. Cromlyn burrows and Britton ferry. 



Narthecium ossifragum. In boggy ground, frequent. 



Eriophorum vaginatum. Cromlyn bogs. 



Cladium Mariscus. By the side of the canal going to Neath, and on 

 Cromlyn bog. 



Carex dioica. " Boggy places about the waterfall at Aberdylais." — Dill. 



stellulata. \ 



— ' curta. 



strigosa. [-Cromlyn and Skitty bogs. 



limosa. 



ampullacea. , 



armaria. Frequent between Swansea and the Mumbles. 



SHORT COMMUNICATIONS. 



Electric Eel at the Adelaide Gallery. — I feel persuaded that 

 your readers will be interested in hearing that the Gymnotus 

 I described in my letter to you, is still living and thriving. 

 Kept in a room daily frequented by multitudes of persons, 

 with only a borrowed light from a skylight, and never feeling 

 the direct rays of the sun ; confined in a vessel in which it 

 cannot now stretch itself out at full length ; kept warm by 

 water artificially heated ; and fed with fish not indigenous to 

 the country it inhabits ; — what must be the power of adapta- 

 tion to external circumstances possessed by the animal which 

 admits of its not only living, but even growing and increas- 

 ing in strength, under such a total change of habits, food and 

 climate ! 



I believe you remember that when we first began to expe- 

 riment on its electrical powers, we could only produce those 

 phenomena which depend on the tension of the electricity, 

 as the spark, &c, by employing secondary currents; now, 

 on the contrary, we have discarded Henry's coil from our 

 apparatus, and invariably succeed, not only in obtaining a 

 direct spark, but even the deflagration of gold leaves, these 

 leaves being mutually attracted from a sensible distance and 

 burning on coming into contact : if this arises partly from 

 increased skill in our mode of manipulation, it must also be 

 assigned in an equal degree to increased power in the eel. 



Nevertheless, convinced as I am that not even the vital 

 power of this animal can long withstand so total a change 



