THE ELECTRICAL EEL. 



365 



stupify the smaller fishes and other animals that come within its 

 range, so that they fall an easy prey to its voracity. The electrical 

 organs consist of four bundles of parallel membranaceous laminse 

 arranged along the inner side of the tail, and constituting a remark- 

 ably powerful battery. 



In hunting the gymnoti the Indians adopt a cruel expedient. They 





FISHING FOR OYMXOTI. 



drive a herd of horses and mules into the ponds which these eels in- 

 habit, and harpoon them when they have spent their electrical force 

 on the unhappy quadrupeds. The fish swim on the surface of the 

 water like serpents, and skilfully glide beneath the animal's body, 

 discharging the whole length of their electrical battery, and attacking 

 simultaneously the digestive viscera, and, above all, the gastric plexus 



