GYM 
the fides are tinged widi red; the belly is white; 
the pupils of the eyes are green, and on the inner 
corner of each there are two fmall fpines. 
Gurnard, Streaked ; the Cuculus Lineatus 
of Ray. The head of this fpecies is large, and 
diftinguifhed by ftellated marks; the eyes are 
large; the coverings of the gills are thorny; and 
the mouth is Imall, and deftitute of teeth. Tlie 
perioral fins are large and fpottcd, and beneath 
them there are three filaments; the colour of the 
body is red ; and the belly is white, marked with 
s. number of llreaks pointing downwards from the 
back. This fifli is caught on the Cornifn coafts; 
and is fuppofed by Ibme to be the mullis imber- 
bis of Linnseus. 
Gurnard, Yellow. See Dracunculus. 
Gurnard, King of. The King of the Gur- 
nards probably receives it's name from it's fize. 
It is deftitute of barbs; the fcales are larpe; the 
body is wholly red ; the eyes are full and promi- 
nent; and the jaws are extremely rough. This 
fpecies is cauo:ht on the coafts of the Ille of Malta. 
GUROUNDI. a fi-nall Brazilian bird, more 
commonly called the teitei; which is caged, and 
much efteemed for it's finging. 
GYMNARTHRIDIA. A clafs of infers, 
having foft naked bodies furnifned with limbs. 
Thefe have generally been called Zoophytes, a 
term expreffing creatures partly anim.al, and partly 
vea;etable: but it is nov/ clearly proved, that there 
are no animals v/hich fall under this defcription ; 
confequently, the term Zoophyte fhould no longer 
be retained. 
Under the clafs of Gymnarthridia are compre- 
hended the limax, the lernea, medufa, aphrodita, 
amphitrire, &c. 
GYMNIA. A new-eftabliihed clafs of ani- 
malcules, comprehending fuch as have neither tails 
nor any vifible limbs. 
GYiMNOTUS. A genus of fifiies of the ma- 
lacopterygious kind, in the Artedian fyftem; but, 
in the Linnsean, of the order of apodes. The 
charafters are thefe: the branchioftege membrane 
contains five bones; the head is furniftcd with 
lateral covers; the upper lip has two tentacula; 
the eyes are covered with a flcin ; the body is flatted 
and carinated under the lower fin; and there is no 
dorfai fin, Linnaeus enumerates five fpecies of 
ihis genus. 
GYMNOTUS ELECTRICUS; theEleftri- 
cal Eel, This very remarkable fifli has lately been 
the fubjeet of much inveftigation. Bancroft, in 
his Natural Hiftory of Guiana, has given a gene- 
ral defcription of it's figure and efferfts; but Dr. 
Garden, in the Phiiofophical Tranfaftions, has fa- 
voured the world with fo very accurate and mi- 
nute an account of this fingular creature, that we 
are induced to lay it before our readers in his own 
words. The doftor's letter to a member of the 
Royal Society, which is dated at Charles Town in 
South Carolina, Auguft 14, 1774, runs thus: 
* A few days fince I went to fee fome very cu- 
rious fifh, which were brought here about nine or 
ten weeks ago from Surinam; and I was both fur- 
prized and delighted to obferve their ftrange fhape, 
and experience their wonderful properties. I had 
before received fome vague account of fuch a fifh ; 
but I always thought, that much of what I alv/ays 
heard was fabulous. There are five of thefe fifhcs 
now here, of difi^erent fizes, from two feet in length 
to three feet eight inches. The following defcrip- 
tion was made out from the longeft and iargeft. 
It might have been much more accurate, if there 
had been a poffibility of handling the fifli, and ex- 
amining it leifurely; or if I could have had a dead 
fpecimen, as many things relating to the internal 
and external ftrudiure could in that cafe have been 
more exaftly afcertained. But this fifli hath the 
amazing power of giving fo fudden and fo violent 
a fliock to any perfon that touches it, that there 
is, I think, an abfolute imnoflibiliiy of ever exa- 
m.ining, accurately, a living fpecimen; and the 
perfon who owns them, rates them at too high a 
price (not lefs than fifty guineas for the linalieft) 
for m.e to get a dead fpecimen, unlefs one fnould 
die by accident; if that fliould happen, yen m.ay 
depend on jiaving a more exaft and accurate ac- 
count for the Society. 
' George Baker, m.ariner, v/ho brought tliem 
here, intends to carry them to England; but as it 
is very uncertain whether they will arrive in iieakh, 
and all alive, I have recommended to him to get 
a fmall cafi< of rum, with a large bung, into v/hich 
he may put any of them that may die, and fo pre- 
pare them for the infpeftion and examination of 
the curious when he arrives. 
The Iargeft of thefe fifli v/as three feet eight in- 
ches in length, when extending itfelf moft, and 
might have been from ten to fourteen inches in 
circumference about the thickeft part of the body. 
The head is large, broad, flat, li:nooth, and im- 
prefTed here and there v/ith holes, as if perforated 
v/ith a blunt needle, efpecially towards the fides, 
where they are more regularly ranged in a line on 
each fide. The roftrum is obtule and rounded. 
The upper and lov/er jaws are of an equal length, 
and the gape is large. The noftriis arc tv/o on 
each fide; the firit large, tubular, and elevated 
above the furface; and the others fm?l], and level 
with the flcin, placed imanediately behind the verge 
of the roftrum, at the diftance of an inch afunder. 
The eyes are finail, flattifn, and of a blueifu 
colour, placed about three-quarters of an inch be- 
hind the noftriis, and towards the fides of the head. 
The whole head feems to be well lupported; but 
whether v/ith bones or cariilages, I could not 
learn. The body is large, thick, and roundifh, 
for a confiderable dlflance from the head, and 
then gradually grows fmalier, but at the fame time 
deeper, or becomes of an acinaciform fhape to t'le 
point of the tail, which is ratiier blunt. There 
are many light-coloured fpots on the back and 
fides of the belly, placed at confiderable diftances 
in irregular lines, but more numerous and diftincc 
tov/ards the tail. Y/hen the fifli was fwimmine;, 
it meafured fixteen inclies in depth near the mid- 
dle, from the upper part of the back to the lov/er 
edge of the fin, and it could not be more than two 
inches broad on the back at that place. The 
whole body, from about four inches belov/ the 
head, feems to be clearly diftinguiflied into four 
different longitudinal parts or divifions. Tlie up- 
per part, or back, is roundilh, of a darlc colour, 
and feparated from the other parts on each fide 
by the lateral lines, which, taking cheir rile at the 
bafe of the Jiead, juft above the peroral fins, run 
down the fides, gradually converging as th.e fifh 
grov/s fmalier, to the tail, and makes fo vifible a de- 
prefllon or furrow in their courfe, as to diftinguifix 
this from the fecond part or divifion, which may 
be properly called the body, or at leaft appears to 
be the ftrong mufcular part of the fifli. This fe- 
cond divifion is of a lighter and more clear blueifh 
colour than the upper or back part, and feems to 
4 X fwell, 
