696 



GYNANDROPSIS GYRINIDJi. 



experiments in the open air. We came first to a 

 small village named liastro de Abaxo. The Indians 

 conducted us thence to the Cano de Beru, a reservoir 

 of miry and stagnant water, but surrounded by rich 

 vegetation. We were greatly surprised when they 

 informed us that they were going to catch about 

 thirty half-wild horses in the neighbouring savannahs, 

 to employ them in fishing for the electric eels. The 

 idea of this sort of fishing, which they call embar- 

 basear coucaballas (deadening by horses), is singular 

 enough. The word barbasee signifies the root of any 

 poisonous plant, by the contact of which a great 

 mass of the water receives, in an instant, the power 

 of killing, or, at least, of intoxicating and benumbing 

 the fish. These come to the surface of the water 

 when they have been poisoned by this means. As 

 the horses, driven here and there through a pond or 

 pool, produce the same effect upon the alarmed fishes, 

 the Indians, confounding cause and effect, apply the 

 same appellation to the two kinds of fishing. While 

 our host was explaining to us this strange system of 

 fishing, a troop of horses and mules arrived. The 

 Indians had made a sort of enclosure around them, 

 and, pressing them closely on all sides, forced them 

 to enter the water. I shall but imperfectly depict 

 the interesting spectacle presented to our view by the 

 combat of the eels against the horses. The Indians, 

 provided with very long reeds and harpoons, placed 

 themselves around the basin. Some of them mounted 

 upon trees, whose branches overhung the surface of 

 the water. They all prevented, by their cries and 

 the length of their reeds, the horses from attaining 

 the shore. The eels, stunned and confused by the 

 noise of the horses, defended themselves by the re- 

 iterated discharge of their electric batteries. For a 

 long time they seemed likely to gain the victory over 

 the horses and mules. These were seen in every 

 direction, stunned by the frequency and force of the 

 electric shocks, to disappear under the water. Some 

 horses, however, rose again, and, in spite of the active 

 vigilance of the Indians, gained the shore exhausted 

 with fatigue, and, their limbs being benumbed by the 

 electric commotions, they stretched themselves at full 

 length upon the ground. I could have wished that a 

 skilful painter had had the opportunity of seizing the 

 moment when the scene was most animated. The 

 groups of Indians surrounding the basin the horses 

 with their manes bristling, terror and anguish depicted 

 in their eyes, trying to escape the storm which sur- 

 prises them the yellowish and livid eels, which, like 

 huge aquatic serpents, are swimming on the surface 

 of the water, and pursuing their enemy all these 

 objects presented, without doubt, the most picturesque 

 assemblage imaginable. I remember the superb pic- 

 ture of a horse entering a cavern and frightened at 

 the view of a lion. The expression of terror is not 

 stronger there than what we witnessed in this unequal 

 contest. In less than five minutes two horses were 

 already drowned. The eel, more than five feet long, 

 glides under the belly of the horse or mule ; it then 

 makes a discharge from the entire extent of its 

 electric organ. It attacks at once the heart, the 

 viscera, and particularly the plexus of the gastric 

 nerves. It is not, therefore, surprising that the 

 effect it produces on a large quadruped should exceed 

 that produced upon a man whom it touches only at 

 one of his extremities. I have my doubts, however, 

 whether the gymnotus kills the horses immediately. 

 I rather believe that the latter, stunned by the reitera- 



tion of the electric shocks, fall into a profound lethargy. 

 Deprived of all sensibility, they disappear under the 

 water ; the other horses and mules pass over their 

 bodies, and they perish in a few minutes. After this 

 commencement, I was afraid that the sport might 

 terminate very tragically. I did not doubt that, by 

 degrees, the greater part of the mules would be 

 drowned. Eight francs is paid for each of them, if 

 the master happens to be known. But the Indians 

 assured us that the fishing would be soon at an end, 

 and that nothing is to be dreaded but the first attack 

 of the gymnoti. In fact, whether the galvanic ener- 

 gies are accumulated in repose, or the organ ceases to 

 perform its functions, when fatigued from too long 

 use, the eels, after a certain time, resembled dis- 

 charged batteries. Their muscular motion is still 

 equally active, but they have no longer the power of 

 giving electric shocks. When the combat had lasted 

 a quarter of an hour, the mules and horses were less 

 affrighted ; they no longer bristled up the mane, and 

 the eye was less expressive of fear and suffering. 

 They were no longer seen to fall backwards ; and 

 the eels, swimming with the body half out of the 

 water, and now escaping from the horses instead of 

 attacking them, began themselves, in their turn, to 

 approach the shore." The Indians, and also the 

 negroes, eat the flesh of those singular fishes, but it 

 is said to be hard, flavourless, and not very nutritious. 

 After this celebrated species, the other gymnoti can 

 hardly bear to be mentioned. 



GYNANDROPSIS (De Candolle). A genus of 

 tropical herbs, belonging to the natural order Cappa- 

 ridece, separated from Cleome by De Candolle. 



GYPSOPHILA (Linnaeus). A genus of annual 

 and perennial herbs, natives of Europe. They bear 

 decandrious flowers, and belong to the natural order 

 CaryophyllecE. The smaller species do well on rock- 

 work, and the larger have a place on flower borders. 

 They are propagated by cuttings or seeds. 



GYRINIIX-E. A family of coleopterous insects 

 belonging to the section Pentamera and sub-section 

 Hydradep/taga, or water-beetles, and distinguished 

 by the minute size of the antenna?, which are clubbed, 

 and shorter than the head, the second joint being 

 dilated externally into a kind of ear ; the two fore 

 legs are long, and advanced in front like arms, but 

 the four posterior legs are very short and compressed, 

 but broad, forming two pair of short strong oars. 

 The eyes are four in number, two being placed above 

 and two below ; the palpi are very small ; the tho- 

 rax short and transverse ; and the elytra oval, de- 

 pressed, and obtuse at the extremity, leaving the tip 

 of the abdomen exposed. 



This family corresponds with the genus Gyrinus 

 of Linnaeus, and, unlike the Dyticidez, to which they 

 are nearly allied, these insects are distinguished by 

 the metallic brilliancy of their covering ; living for 

 the most part upon the surface of the water, they 

 receive the impressions of the light in a more direct 

 manner than the Dyticidce, and are accordingly orna- 

 mented with tints of a brassy or bronzed metallic 

 hue, which glitter in the sun in the highest degree. 

 The velocity with which they execute their evolutions 

 upon the surface of the water is really surprising, 

 and has obtained for them the name of tourniquets 

 by the French, and whirlwigs and water-flies by the 

 English. Sometimes, indeed, they remain stationary 

 for a time, so that it seems easy to secure them, but 

 on the least motion they are instantly alert, escaping 



