44 



ELECTRICAL GYMNOTE. 



stupified, and thus falling an easy prey to the 

 electrical tyrant. So powerful is the -shock which 

 this fish, in its native waters, is capable of exerting, 

 that it is said to deprive almost entirely of sense 

 and motion those who are exposed to its approach, 

 and is therefore much dreaded by those who bathe 

 in the rivers it inhabits. 



A very accurate description of the exterior form 

 of the Gymnotus was drawn up by the late ingenious 

 Dr. Garden of Charles Town in South Carolina, 

 addressed to the celebrated Mr. Ellis; and an 

 equally accurate description of its internal structure, 

 and more particularly of its electric or Galvanic 

 organs, is given by Mr. Hunter, Both these are 

 printed in the 65th volume of the Philosophical 

 Transactions. 



" The largest of these fish," says Dr. Garden, 

 was three feet eight inches in length, when extend- 

 ing itself most, and might have been from ten to 

 fourteen inches in circumference about the thickest 

 part of the body. The head is large, broad, flat, 

 smooth, and impressed here and there with holes, 

 as if perforated with a blunt needle, especially to- 

 wards the sides, where they are more regularly 

 ranged in a line on each side. The rostrum is 

 obtuse and rounded. The upper and lower jaws 

 are of an equal length, and the gape is large. The 

 nostrils are two on each side ; the first large and 

 tubular, and elevated above the surface ; the others 

 small, and level with the skin, placed immediately 

 behind the verge of the rostrum, at the distance of 

 un inch asunder. The eyes are small, flattish, and 



