360 



and vigour. A gymnotus, that has made the 

 voyage from Surinam to Philadelphia and Stock- 

 holm, accustoms itself to the imprisonment, to 

 which it is reduced; it resumes by degrees the 

 same habits in the tub, which it had in the rivers 

 and pools. An electrical eel was brought to me 

 at Calabozo, taken in a net, and consequently 

 having no wound. It ate meat, and terribly 

 frightened the little tortoises and frogs,which,not 

 knowing the danger, placed themselves with con- 

 fidence on it's back. The frogs did not receive 

 the stroke till the moment when they touched the 

 body of the gymnotus. When they recovered, they 

 leaped out of the tub ; and when replaced near 

 the fish, they were frightened at it's sight only. 

 We then observed nothing that indicated an 

 action at a distance ; but our gymnotus, recently 

 taken, was not yet sufficiently tamed, to attack 

 and devour frogs. On approaching the finger, 

 or metallic points, within the distance of half a 

 line from the electric organs, no shock was felt. 

 Perhaps the animal did not perceive the neigh- 

 bourhood of this foreign body ; or, if it did, we 

 must suppose, that the timidity it felt in the 

 commencement of it's captivity prevented it 

 from darting forth it's energetic strokes, except 

 when strongly irritated by an immediate con- 

 tact. The gymnotus being immersed in water, 

 I approached my hand, both armed and unarmed 

 with a metal, within the distance of a few lines 



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