094 



G Y M N O T U S. 



one ball, which, from meeting with impediments on 

 account of the unevenness of the ground, is some- 

 times deserted b}' them. It is, however, attempted 

 by others with success, unless it happens to roll into 

 some deep hollow or chink, where they are con- 

 strained to leave it ; but they continue their work by 

 rolling off the next ball in their way. None of them 

 seem to know their own balls, but an equal care for 

 the whole appears to affect all the community. They 

 form these pellets while the dung remains moist, and 

 leave them to harden in the sun before they attempt 

 to roll them. In their moving of them from place to 

 place, both they and the balls may frequently be seen 

 tumbling about over the little eminences that are in their 

 way. They are not, however, easily discouraged ; and 

 by repeating their attempts, usually surmount the diffi- 

 culties. They find out their subsistence by the excel- 

 lence of their organs of scent, which direct them in their 

 flight to newly fallen dung, on which they immedi- 

 ately go to work, tempering it with a proper mixture 

 of earth. So intent are they always on their employ- 

 ment, that though handled, or otherwise interrupted, 

 they are not to be deterred, but immediately on being 

 freed, persist in their work without any apprehension 

 of danger. They are said to be so extremely strong 

 and active, as to move about, with the greatest ease, 

 things that are many times their own weight. Dr. 

 Burchell was supping one evening in a planter's house 

 of North Carolina, when two of them were con- 

 veyed, without his knowledge, under the candlestick. 

 A few blows were struck on the table, and, to his 

 great surprise, the candlestick began to move about 

 apparently without any agency ; and his surprise 

 was not much lessened when, on taking one of them 

 up, he discovered that it was only a chafer which 

 moved." 



It has been the good fortune of the writer hereof 

 to examine a living specimen of the North American 

 species, whose habits are recorded in the above ex- 

 tract, and which was brought to this country from 

 the United States, having lived during the passage 

 without taking anv food. 



GYMNOTUS" (electric eel). Gymnotus, literally 

 means " naked back," and, as applied to a fish, it im- 

 ports that there is no dorsal fin. The electric eel, so 

 celebrated in natural history, is not the only species, 

 even when the genus is cleared of some which do not 

 belong to it ; it is, however, the one which is most 

 interesting, and therefore our attention shall be chiefly 

 directed to it. 



The characters of the genus are : the gills partly 

 closed by a membrane, but this membrane opens in 

 front of the pectoral fins ; the vent placed far for- 

 ward, so that the anal fin extends the greater part of 

 the length of the body, and generally to the very ex- 

 tremity of the tail. There is no dorsal fin, and even in 

 the gymnotus, properly so called, there is no caudal fin, 

 though the anal fin extends under the tail to its ex- 

 tremity. The skin is without any perceptible scales ; 

 the intestines are much folded, and have numerous 

 cseca. They have a double air -bladder, one branch 

 of which extends far back into the cavity of the abdo- 

 men ; the other is oval, consisting of two lobes, and 

 lies immediately over the gullet. All the species 

 which are known are inhabitants of the rivers and 

 fresh water pools of South America. That which 

 has attracted the greatest attention is 



THE ELECTRIC EEL (Gymnotus electricus). From 

 the singular power with which it is furnished of giving 



electric shocks, often very severe, as well as from the 

 very peculiar apparatus upon which this power ap- 

 pears to depend, the electric eel is not only one of 

 the most extraordinary of fishes, but it is one of the 

 most wonderful productions of living nature ; and if 

 it were possible to carry our physiological analysis so 

 far as to ascertain what connexion there is between 

 the action of life in the animal and the charging and 

 discharging of its electric, or rather galvanic battery, 

 it would bring us one step nearer to that mysterious 

 relation which there unquestionably is between elec- 

 tric action and animal life. 



This singular fish is of considerable size, being very 

 frequently between two and three feet in length, and 

 instances are mentioned of specimens five feet, or even 

 six feet, in length, being found. It is a thick and 

 heavy looking fish too, riot possessed of the " lithe " 

 form of the common eels ; the body is pretty uni- 

 form in thickness throughout, though it is rather 

 more compressed than the body of an eel ; and when 

 the length is about four feet, the circumference at the 

 thickest point is more than fifteen inches, and the depth 

 in the side about seven. The head is full of little vesi- 

 cles, which secrete a sort of slimy matter, wherewith 

 the body of the fish is lubricated ; and similar organs, 

 though smaller in size, are scattered over different 

 parts of the body and tail. When we say the tail of 

 this fish, we of course mean all that part of it which 

 is behind the vent; for as there is no caudal fin, 

 there is no specific tail other than this portion of the 

 body. So copious is the discharge of this matter, 

 that when the fish is kept alive as a curiosity, which 

 it often is, in troughs or large tubs of water, in its 

 native country, the water requires to be frequently 

 changed. From the feeding of those specimens, it is 

 ascertained that the food of this curious fish consists 

 indiscriminately of worms and small fishes ; for it 

 eats either of these with equal avidity. 



It is far from a handsome fish ; and its colour is 

 dull, being an obscure blackish green, with a few dark 

 stripes, barely perceptible. Its tail, even in point of 

 muscular vigour, is a most powerful instrument, and 

 amply compensates for the deficiency of fins. In 

 the northern parts of the South American continent 

 it is very common, being found equally in the great 

 rivers, the small streams, and the stagnant pools ; 

 and in those places where the water forms the only 

 pathway, as it not unfrequently does in the wilds of 

 those countries, this fish is a most formidable crea- 

 ture. The vigour of the animal, its serpent-lik-e 

 form, its dark appearance, and the violence with 

 which it gives its shocks, all tend to make it an object 

 of terror ; and those who are fond of fanciful writing 

 have endeavoured to persuade their readers that the 

 same energy of the sun which, in those lands of ex- 

 treme heat and fertility, matures the choicest fruits, 

 and calls forth the beauty and the perfume of the 

 finest flowers, also gives deadly strength to the boa, 

 the most fatal poison to the bush-master, and this 

 strange electric action to the gymnotus. 



The apparatus in which evidently this power is 

 lodged, is a very singular one, and consists of four 

 organs, which are situated longitudinally in the tail 

 of the fish (which, as we have said, constitutes by far 

 the greater part of it), and those organs amount to 

 between a half and a third of the whole volume of 

 the tail, indeed they occupy a full third of the whole 

 volume of the fish. The larger organ occupies the 

 middle of the side, and extends to the extremity of 



