ELECTRICAL GYMNOTE. 151 



colour, a dusky greenish brown, is thickly variegated with 

 marks of a dull yellow, speckled over with brown, having 

 altogether somewhat the appearance of a net-work. The 

 head is small; the fins, which are united like those of the 

 Eel, are covered with the skin of the body, and of a dusky 

 colour, with white spots. The Mursena can live either 

 in fresh or salt water, but is chiefly found at sea. In its 

 manners it resembles the Conger, being extremely vora- 

 cious. The ancients used to keep it in reservoirs, where 

 it is said to have become so tame as to answer its master's 

 call to summon it to its food. Pliny relates that one 

 Vedius Pollio used to throw his offending slaves into the 

 reservoir to be devoured by the Muraena. 



THE ELECTRICAL GYMNOTE, 



Is a native of the warmer regions of America and Africa, 

 where it inhabits the larger rivers. Its general ap- 

 pearance is like that of a large Eel; but its body is 

 thicker, and its colour a uniform dark brown. Its usual 

 length is from three to four feet ; but it has been found 

 six, seven, or even ten feet long. The Electrical Gymnote 

 has no teeth, but is provided with a much more surprising 

 means of securing its prey. This is no other than a 

 peculiar organ, performing the office of an electrical 

 machine, with which the animal is able to give a very 

 smart shock, with effects similar to those of a charged jar, 

 being communicable through a circle of persons standing 

 with joined hands, &c. The violence of the shock varies 

 with the size of the Eel, and is capable of killing or 

 benumbing the fish on which the animal preys ; it is 

 particularly powerful when he is irritated, and capable of 

 violently affecting the human frame. Humboldt relates, 

 that when travelling in South America, he saw horses and 

 mules killed by the strokes of the Gymnote, upon being 

 driven into a pool where those fish abounded. From hia 

 account, it appears that the animal is not able to continue 

 to give blows of equal force ; the strokes, when rapidly 

 repealed, becoming weaker and weaker. 



