Col PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1 775. 



in appearance ; but the aperture must be very small, as the formed excrements 

 are only about the size of a quill of a common dunghill fowl. There are two 

 pectoral fins, placed one on each side, just behind the head, over the foramina 

 spiratoria, which are small, and generally covered with a lax skin, situated in the 

 axillae of these fins. These fins are small for the size of the fish, being 

 scarcely an inch in length, of a very thin, delicate consistence, and orbicular 

 shape. They seem to be chiefly useful in supporting and raising the head of the 

 fish when he wants to breathe, which he does every 4 or 5 minutes, by raising 

 his mouth out of the water. This shows that he has lungs and is amphibious, 

 and the foramina spiratoria seem to indicate his having branchiae likewise. Dr. 

 G. mentions the appearances of a number of small cross bands, annular divi- 

 sions, or rather rugae of the skin of the body. They reach across the body 

 down to the base of the carina on each side ; but those that cross the back seem 

 to terminate at the lateral lines, where new rings take their rise, not exactly in 

 the same line, and run down to the carina. This gives the fish somewhat of a 

 worm-like appearance ; and indeed it seems to have some of the properties of 

 this tribe, for it has a power of lengthening or shortening its body to a certain 

 degree, for its own conveniency, or agreeable to its own inclination : and 

 besides this power of lengthening or shortening his body, he can swim forwards 

 or backwards with apparently equal ease to himself, which is another property 

 of the vermicular tribe. When he swims forward, the undulation or wavy 

 motion of the fin and carina begin from the upper part, and move downwards ; 

 but when he swims backward, and the tail goes foremost, the undulations of the 

 fin begin at the extremity of the tail or fin, and proceed in succession from that 

 backwards to the upper part of the body ; in either case he swims equally swift. 

 Every now and then the fish lays himself on one side, as it were, to rest him- 

 self, and then the 4 several divisions of his body abovementioned are very dis- 

 tinctly seen ; videlicet, the vermiform appearance of the 2 upper divisions ; the 

 retiform appearance of the carina ; and the last, or dark-coloured fin, whose 

 rays seem to be exceedingly soft and flexible, and entirely at the command of 

 the strong muscular carina. When he is taken out of the water, and laid on 

 his belly, the carina and fin lie to one side, in the same manner as the ventral 

 fin of the tetraodon does, when he creeps on the ground. 



The person to whom these animals belong, calls them electrical fish ; and 

 indeed the power they have of giving an electrical shock to any person, or to any 

 number of persons who join hands together, the extreme person on each side 

 touching the fish, is their most singular and astonishing property. All the 5 are 

 possessed of this power in a very great degree, and communicate the shock to 

 one person, or to any number of persons, either by the immediate touch of the 

 fish with the hand, or by the mediation of any metalline rod. The keeper says. 



