60 . CARAPO GYMNOTE. 



supply the organ, are much larger than those be- 

 stowed on any other part for the purposes of sen- 

 sation and action ; but it appears to me that the or- 

 gan of the Torpedo is supplied with much the largest 

 proportion. If all the nerves which go to it were 

 united together, it would make a vastly greater chord 

 than all those which go to the organ of this eel. Per- 

 haps when experiments have been made upon this 

 fish, equally accurate with those on the Torpedo, 

 the reason for this difference may be assigned." 



It has been affirmed that the Gymnotus electri- 

 cus, even for some time after its death, cannot be 

 touched without feeling its electric shock. This is 

 by no means incredible, when we consider the ef- 

 fect of the Galvanic pile, so well known to modern 

 philosophers. 



CARAPO GYMNOTE. 



Gymnotus Carapo. G. unicolur, dorso apterygio, pinna ani longi* 

 tudine caudce attenuate, maxilla superior? longiore. Lin. Syst'. 

 Nat. Gmel.p. 1136. 



Brown Gymnote, with the vent-fin of the length of the attenu- 

 ated tail, and the upper jaw longer than the lower. 



Gymnotus macrourus. G. macrouruSj maxilla superiore longiore. 

 Block. 



Gymnotus carapo. G. nudus, dorso apterygio, pmna ani longitu- 

 dine caudce attenuates. Lin. Syst. Nat. p. 427. 



. THE head of the Carapo is of a compressed form, 

 and the upper jaw projects beyond the lower : the 

 tongue is short, thick, broad, ,and furnished like the 

 jaws with a great many small sharp-pointed teeth : 



