ELECTRIC SHOCKS BY ANIMALS 185 



•barged for each attempt, and a shilling being 

 offered as a prize to any one who could succeed 

 in the task. Needless to say the owner of the fish 

 obtained a good many coppers, but did not part 

 with his silver. 



The electric star-gazer and the common skate 

 are other fish endowed with electric organs, those 

 of the former being situated upon the top of the 

 head and behind the eyes, while those of the latter 

 are placed on either side of the creature's back- 

 bone. The skate, however, is only able to give 

 a very feeble shock. 



None of the mammals, birds, or reptiles has the 

 power to discharge an electrical current from its 

 body, but amongst the insects there are several 

 species which are thus endowed. As far back as 

 the year 1822, Mr. Yarrell, at a meeting of the 

 Entomological Society, exhibited a large and hairy 

 caterpillar which was discovered in South America 

 by a naval officer who, on picking it up, received 

 such a powerful shock that his right arm and 

 side was paralysed for a considerable period. A 

 communication was also made to the above- 

 mentioned Society in reference to a species of the 

 Elateridce or click-beetles — those found in this coun- 

 try being known in their larval form as wire- worms — 

 which was capable of transmitting a strong electrical 

 shock and causing the arm of any one who touched 

 the creature to become quite numbed for a few 

 seconds ; while General Davis records that, having 

 picked up a specimen of a wheel-bug (Reduvius), 

 found in the West Indies, he felt a shock which 



