116 ELECTRIC EEL. 



violent electric shocks it has the power of communicating at will, 

 and in the direction it pleases. This fish acquires five or six feet in 

 length, (Fig. 58.) ; its body is elongated, and of the same size 

 throughout, and its skin is imbued with a gluey matter : it is very 

 common in the small rivulets and lakes, and met with here and 

 there on the immense planes situate between the Cordillera, the 

 Oronoco, and Banda-Oriental, and it is also found in the Apure, 

 Oronoco, Meta, &c The electric shocks which it gives, are 

 sufficiently powerful to knock down men and horses, and the 

 Gymnotus resorts to this means of defending itself against its 

 enemies, and to kill at a distance, fishes upon which it feeds ; for 

 water, as well as metals, transmits the benumbing shock of this 

 singular animal, in the same manner that the lightning rod con- 

 ducts the electricity of the clouds from the atmosphere to the 

 earth. Its first discharges of electricity are generally feeble; but 

 when it is irritated and agitated, they become more and more 

 powerful, and are then terrible. When it has thus given repeated 

 shocks, it becomes exhausted, and requires a greater or less 

 period of rest before it regains its power. It is said, that it 

 employs this time in charging its electric organs, and that the 

 Americans avail themselves of this circumstance to capture it 

 without danger. To catch the gymnoti, they drive into the pools 

 inhabited by these fishes, wild horses, which, receiving the first 

 shocks, are soon benumbed, and thrown down or even killed ; 

 then they obtain the exhausted gymnoti with nets, or a harpoon. 



26. The electric apparatus of the gymnotus extends all along 

 the back and tail, and consists of four longitudinal fasciculi, com- 

 posed of a great number of membranous plates, which are 

 parallel and very close together, and arranged almost horizontally 

 and united by an infinity of other smaller lamellaB placed verti- 

 cally crosswise : the little prismatic and transverse cells, formed 

 by the junction of these lamenae, are filled by a gelatinous matter : 

 the whole apparatus is supplied with very large nerves. 



ORDER OF LOPHOBRANCHII. 



27. This order is distinguished by the branchiaa, which, in 

 place of being pectinate, that is, having the form of comb-teeth, 

 as is ordinarily the case, are divided into small round tufts, 

 arranged in pairs along the branchial arches. They are enclosed 

 under a large operculum, which is attached on all sides by a 

 membrane, leaving only a small hole for the escape of water, 



26. What is the situation of the electric apparatus of the Gymnotus? 

 What are fhe characters of this apparatus ? 



a?. What are the characters of the order of Lophobranchii ? 



