NATURAL HISTORY. 



851 



that the scene of their propagation 

 is in the sea itself, or very near to 

 the mouths of rivers, and that it 

 is there that inquiries on the sub- 

 ject should be prosecuted. 



The growth of the eel, like that 

 ofmost other fishof prey, doesnot ap- 

 pear limited to any determinate na- 

 tural bulkjbut to be governed only by 

 the age and abundance of food. In 

 this country they are indiscriminate- 

 ly of every size, up to eight or nine 

 pounds weight. They have generally 

 been supposed viviparous ; but the 

 immense abundance of the young 

 certainlybespeaks an oviparous pro- 

 geny ; and this is supported by ana- 

 logy in the lamprey eel, vvhich 

 breeds commonly enough in most 

 of our estuaries. 



The tenacious vitality of the eel 

 is well-known, and is very extraor- 

 dinary ; for, after decapitation, 

 skinning, and eraboweliing, the 

 separated portions of the body will 

 still exhibit strong movement. This 

 is a property seemingly common 

 to all similarly-lengthened animals, 

 and obviously results from the com- 

 paratively small proportion of 

 nerves which originate from the 

 brain, and the much greater which 

 branch off in succession from the 

 spine into the adjacent parts ; an 

 arrangement which distributes the 

 source of vitality along the whole 

 frame of the animal. 



Electrical Eels. \_Prom HumbolcTs 

 Viexv of the Equatorial RegioJis.^ 



The rivers and lakes of the 

 lowlands of Venezuelas and Carac- 

 cas are full of electrical eels, call- 

 ed by the Spaniards tremblador 

 (the trembler), and by the French 



colonists of Guyanne the trem- 

 bling eels. These eels have the 

 astonishing faculty of striking 

 their prey by a discliarge of 

 electrical matter. They are found 

 also in the small ponds or pools, 

 interspersed in the vast plains ly- 

 ing between the Oronooko and 

 the Apura. Travellers have been 

 obliged to abandon the old route, 

 by Urillica, on account of the 

 danger incurred in passing through 

 those stagnating waters, where 

 the mules, struck on a sudden 

 by an invisible commotion, were 

 paralyzed and very often drown- 

 ed. The fisher, too, often re- 

 ceived an electrical shock, to 

 which his line served as a conduc- 

 tor. 



The electrical eel is commonly 

 about six feet long. The structure 

 of its nervous system has been 

 described with sufficient accuracy, 

 but what has been said of its cellu- 

 rary reservoirs, and the composi- 

 tion of its electrical batteries, is 

 purely imaginary. The sensation 

 occasioned by the shock, is ex- 

 tremely painful, and, in the parts 

 affected, it leaves a numbness. It 

 resembles a sudden blow on the 

 head more than the commotion 

 produced by the ordinary, electri- 

 cal fluid. The Indians have so great 

 a terror of this animal, and such 

 a repugnancy to come near it, 

 when living, that Mr. Humbold 

 had the greatest difficulty in pro- 

 curing some of them for making 

 experiments. For this purpose, he 

 staid several days near the Apu- 

 ra, in the small village of Calabozo, 

 having leai-ned that there was a 

 great number of electrical eels near 

 this river. His landlord made eveiy 

 effort to procure a number for him 



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