482 



VERTEUKATA, 



tlie Ni'w York niarkots; l^it its flosli i- iiiisavorv 



IllK -Ml H.LNA. 



It is a vicious animal, snapping at any thing 

 near it, wlicn captured. 



Genns MUR^^NA: Murcena., in- 

 cludes the MuRiENA, M. HcloKi, a 

 celebrated species, common in all 

 parts of the Mediterranean, and oc- 

 casionally met -with on the coasts 

 of Great Britain. It is four to six 

 feet long, and lives in fresh or salt 

 water ; its flesh is Avhite, and of good 

 flavor. It was greatly esteemed by 

 the ancient Romans, who kept large 

 supplies of it in their numerous vi- 

 varia. Julius Ctesar, in one of his 



triumphs, distributed six thousand of these fishes among his friends. 



THE GYMNOTID-^. 



Genus GYMXOTUS : Gymnofm, includes the Electrical Eel, G. clectricus, which frequents 

 the ponds and marshy places of South America. This flsh possesses a most wonderful power 

 of communicating an electrical shock to any thing with which it comes in contact; and this is 

 said to be suflicientlv strong to knock down a man, and deprive liim of the use of a limb for 

 some hours. It attains a length of five or six feet, and as the apparatus from which the elec- 

 tricity is evolved extends throughout the greater part of its body, it may readily he imagined 

 that the discharge of such a battery must be formidable. The apparatus is composed of four 

 lono-itudinal bundles, placed one on each side of the dorsal, and one on each side of tlie ventral 

 region of the body. These bundles are composed of a multitude of horizontal parallel plates, 

 which arc intersected by transverse vertical plates, the- quadrangular canals thus formed being 

 filled with a gelatinous matter. The whole apparatus is liberally supplied with nerves, and may 

 be considered to represent an exceedingly complicated galvanic battery. So powerful, in fact, is 

 the current of electricity evolved by it, that it can decompose chemical compounds, and magnet- 

 ize steel needles. It appears that the anterior portion of the apparatus is positive, and the pos- 

 terior negative; and that those parts of it only which arc in contact Avith an object are impli- 

 cated in the production of the current. Nevertheless, it is said that the animal can make use 

 of it in bcnumbinc: small fishes at some distance from it in the water. The Indians of South 

 America, when they wish to capture this fish, commence their operations by driving a number 

 of horses and mules into the ponds inhabited by them; the eels, alarmed at the disturbance, im- 

 mediately attack the intruders upon their quiet domain, usually applying their entire length to 

 the bellies of the unfortunate quadrupeds, and thus giving the full cftect of the whole electrical 

 apparatus. Some of the horses soon become disabled, and falling down in the water, are 

 drowned; the others, being driven back by the shouts and whips of the Indians, continue the 

 conflict until the powers of the gvmnoti are, for the time, exhausted. These then endeavor, in 

 their turn, to escape from the scene cf warfare, and for this pui'pose approach the shore, where 

 another enemy awaits them : the Indians, armed with harpoons attached to long cords, strike at 

 all that come within reach, and by jerking them rapidly out of water, so as to keep the cord 

 from getting wet, contrive to secure their booty without receiving any shock. 



Several other species of this family are found in the waters of South America, but none of them 

 appear to possess electrical properties. Mr. AVallace found ten species in the small streams near 

 the sources of the Rio Negro and Orinoco: be says that they are all eaten, but that, owing to the 

 number of forked bones which they contain, they arc but little esteemed. The Indians informed 

 him that a rostrated species, common in the rivers, has a very singular and ingenious manner of 

 obtaining its nourishment. They state that its principal food consists of ants and white ants, 

 insects which are exceedingly abundant in those regions, and that, to procure them, it approaches 

 the shore and lays its tail upon the ground. The ants, attracted by the slimy matter with which 



