BONY FISHES. 347 



fishermen rake it out of the sand with iron hsoks. A pilchard is 



a common bait for the' Conger. 



The size of this fish is sometimes 



very great. Yarrell mentions, in his 



" British Fishes," that " specimens 



weighing eighty-six pounds, one hun- 

 dred and four pounds, and even ono 



hundred and thirty pounds, have been 



recorded, some of them measuring more 



than ten feet long and eighteen inches 

 in circumference. They possess great 

 strength, and often form very formida- 

 ble antagonists if assailed among rocks, Conger Eei. 

 or when drawn into a boat with a line." 



The Electric Eel, or Gymnotus This curious fish, 



which exhibits the singular phenomenon of voluntary electric 

 power residing in a living animal, is an inhabitant of the fresh- 

 water rivers and ponds of Surinam, and other parts of South Ame- 

 rica, where it was first discovered in the year 1677. This power 

 of emitting an electric shock is apparently given it in order to 

 enable the creature to kill its prey. 



Captain Stedman, in his account of Surinam, describes an 

 adventure with the electric eel, which he, of course, had many op- 

 portunities of seeing. He attempted, for a trifling wager, to lift up 

 a gymnotus in his hands, but according to his own words : — "I 

 tried about twenty different times to grasp it with my hand, but 

 all without effect, receiving just as many electrical shocks, which 

 I felt even to the top of my shoulder. It has been said that this 

 animal must be touched with both hands before it gives the shock, 

 but this I must take the liberty of contradicting, having expe- 

 rienced the contrary effect.'' The eel mentioned was a small one, 

 otly two feet long ; but one that had arrived at its full growth 

 would have given a very much stronger shock. An English sailor 

 was fairly knocked down by a shock from .one of these eels, nor 

 did he recover his senses for some time. It is said that the shock 

 can pass up a stick, and strike the person holding it. Mr. Bryant 



