362 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. 



Eels which he saw ascending the river Findhom : " When 

 they came to a fall, which they could not possibly ascend, 

 they wriggled out of the water, and gliding along the rock, 

 close to the edge, where the stone was constantly wet from the 

 splashing and spray of the fall, they made their way up till 

 they got above the difficulty, and then again slipping into the 

 water, continued their course." The eel is voracious, and 

 will leave the water in search of frogs and other food. It 

 will attack, and appropriate, young ducks, and one is said to 

 have been caught near Bootle with two rats in its stomach. 

 The Conger Eel grows to a great size and attains great weight. 

 It is said sometimes to measure eight or even ten feet, and to 

 weigh a hundred pounds or even more. It is plentiful in the 

 English Channel, and on the coast of Cornwall. 



The The Gymnotus is the famous electric eel, and 



Gymnotus. like the Torpedo of the English Channel and the 

 Mediterranean, has the ability of communicating a powerful 

 electric shock. It belongs to the Amazon and other South 

 American rivers, and their tributaries, and is well known to 

 American Indians. Humboldt describes the shock produced 

 by this creature, as exceeding in strength that of a large Leyden 

 jar. Having imprudently placed his foot on one just taken 

 from the water he received such a shock that he says, " I was 

 affected the rest of the day with violent pains in the knees, and 

 in almost every joint." 

 Catching the' The following vivid description of a Gymnotus 



Gymnotus. hunt is given by Humboldt : " We at first wishejd 

 to make our experiments in the. house we inhabited at Caj|4- 

 bozo ; but the dread of the electrical shocks of the' gymnoti' is 

 so exaggerated among the vulgar, that during three days we 

 could not obtain one, though they are easily caught, and 

 though we had promised the Indians two piastres for every 

 strong and vigorous fish. 



" Impatient of waiting, and having obtained very uncertain 

 results from an electrical eel that had been brought to us 



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