ELECTRIC FISHES :—GYMNOTUS. ‘341 
means of organs specially adapted for the purpose; and of 
} it at will, with considerable violence. Tt i is re- 
_ markable that all these belong to the class of Fishes ;1 and that 
they should differ alike in their general conformation, and in 
their geographical distribution. Thus, the two species of 
Torpedo, belonging to the Ray tribe, are found on most of 
the coasts of the Atlantic and Mediterranean ; sometimes so 
abundantly, as to be a staple article of food. The Gymnotus, 
or Electric Eel, is confined to the rivers of South America. 
The Malapterurus (commonly known as the Silurus) which 
approaches more nearly to the Salmon tribe, occurs in the 
Niger, the Senegal, and the Nile ; and there are two other less 
known Fishes, said to possess electric properties, which inhabit 
the Indian seas. 
420. Of all these, the Gymnotus (fig. 176) is the one which 
_ possesses the electric power in the most extraordinary degree. 
It is an eel-like fish, having nothing remarkable in its external 
appearance ; its usual length is from six to eight feet, but it 
: is said occasionally to attain 
_ the length of twenty feet. This 
Efich will attack and paralyse 
: as well as kill small 
s; and the discharges of 
4 the sll individuals sometimes 
‘prove sufficient to deprive even 
Men of sense and motion. This 
" power is employed by the fish to 
defend itself against its enemies ; 
and even, it is said, to destroy 
its prey (which consists of other SSS 
fishes) at some distance; the Hig, 176: Greets. 
shock being conveyed by water, 
_as a lightning-conductor conveys to the earth the effects of 
the electric discharge of the clouds. The first shocks are 
_ usually feeble ; but as the animal becomes more irritated, 
their power increases, After a considerable number of power- 
ful discharges, the energy is exhausted, and is not recovered 
for some time ; and this circumstance is taken advantage ot 
a South America, both to obtain the fishes (which afford 
_ } Certain Insects and Mollusks haye been said to possess electrical 
properties but no special electric organ has been discovered in them. 
