668 Habits of the Electric Eel. 



Art. V — Letter from Thomas Bradley, Esq. respecting the habits 

 of the Electric Eel as observed at the Royal Gallery of Prac- 

 tical Science, West Strand. 



My Dear Sir, 



Having had the care of the Gymnotus electricus 

 now in this Institution, for upwards of three months, I feel 

 persuaded that the few observations I can furnish on the ha- 

 bits of the animal, even in a state of confinement, may not be 

 uninteresting or without value to the naturalist. 



The Gymnotus was brought to us on the 12th of August 

 last, obviously in a very debilitated state, owing, as I conjec- 

 ture, to the improper treatment it had been subjected to on 

 the voyage to this country. My first care was to remove it 

 into an apartment, the temperature of which could be main- 

 tained at about 75° F. ; and acting on the directions relative 

 to its treatment, given by Baron Humboldt in a letter to Pro- 

 fessor Faraday, which that gentleman kindly communicated 

 to me, — boiled meat, cut small, was put into the water for its 

 food; but the animal would touch neither the meat, nor 

 worms, small frogs, fish, nor bread, which were all tried in 

 succession. Recourse was then had to a plan adopted by the 

 London fishmongers for fattening the common eel, — that of 

 putting bullock's blood into the water in which they are kept; 

 this being practised with the Gymnotus, and care taken to 

 change the water daily, it was obvious that the plan had be- 

 neficial effects on the animal, which gradually improved in 

 health. 



This plan was followed till the end of October, when hav- 

 ing obtained a few fresh gudgeons, I resolved to tempt the 

 Gymnotus with them once more, when, to my great pleasure, 

 the animal made a dart at the first gudgeon I threw into the 

 water, and swallowed it with avidity, as it did three others in 

 succession, immediately afterwards. Since that time the ani- 

 mal has been regularly fed with these fish, sometimes eating 

 only one in the day, sometimes two, three, or four ; but when 

 it has eaten more than one, it has refused to eat any on the 

 next or following days, so that one small fish a day may be 

 considered the average. The blood diet has, of course, been 

 discontinued since the animal took to a more congenial food. 



The first interesting question which presents itself for so- 

 lution is, whether the extraordinary power possessed by the 

 animal of giving a severe electric shock to any creature com- 

 ing in contact with it, or even within a certain distance of it, 

 when immersed in the water, be given as a means of taking 



