160 THE STORY OF FISH LIFE. 



battery of Torpedo marmorata. . . . The fish gives 

 the electric shock voluntarily when it is excited 

 to do so in self-defence, or intends to stun or kill 

 its prey ; but to receive the shock the object 

 must complete the galvanic circuit by communi- 

 cating with the fish at two distinct points, either 

 directly or through the medium of some conduct- 

 ing body. ... It is said that a painful sensation 

 may be produced by a discharge conveyed through 

 the medium of a stream of water. The electric 

 currents created in these fishes exercise all the 

 other known powers of electricity ; they render 

 the needle magnetic, decompose chemical com- 

 pounds, and emit the spark. The dorsal surface 

 of the electric organ is positive, the ventral 

 surface is negative." A correspondent in Land 

 and Water, in reply to Frank Buckland, con- 

 tributes some very interesting information con- 

 cerning two torpedos taken in the estuary of the 

 Tees. He says : "I was curious enough to see 

 what those I caught were living upon, so I pufc 

 my knife into one and took from him an eel 

 2 Ibs. in weight, and a flounder nearly 1 Ib. 

 The next one I opened also, and was more as- 

 tonished to find in him a salmon between 4 and 

 5 Ibs. in weight; and what I was more astonished 

 at was that none of the fish had a blemish of any 

 description, showing that your idea of the fish 

 killing his prey with his electrical force is quite 

 correct." 



The nerves of the electric organ in the torpedo 

 arise from the brain ; in all the other electric 

 fishes from the spinal cord. In gymnotus over 

 two hundred of these nerves pass to the electric 



