GYM G Y N 
to its approach, and is therefore much 
dreaded by those who bathe in the rivers 
which it inhabits. See PI. Nat. Hist. tig. 218. 
It has been affirmed that the gvmnotus 
electricus, even lor some time after its death, 
cannot be touched without feeling its electric 
shock. I his is by no means incredible, when 
we consider the effect of the galvanic pile, 
so well known to modern philosophers. 
2. Gvmnotus carapo. The head of theca- 
rapo is of a compressed form, and the upper 
jaw projects beyond the lower : the tongue is 
short, thick, broad, and furnished like the 
jaws with a great many small sharp-po uted 
teeth : the eyes are very small, and the front 
of the head is marked, 'as in the preceding 
species, by a number of small round pores : 
the body gradually decreases towards the 
tad, which is extremely slender, and termi- 
nates in a point. The “colour of the whole 
animal is brown, marked by a few irregular 
spots or patches of a deeper cast : the scales 
are small, and the lateral line straight. This 
----- fish is a native of the American seas, and is 
said chiefly to occur in the branches of the : said to be most frequent about the coast of 
river Senegal. It is a fish of a disagreeable | Surinam. It is supposed to live chiefly on 
appearance; bearing a general resemblance j small lishes, sea insects, &c. Whether it 
to a large eel, though somewhat thicker in j possesses any electric power, like the former 
proportion, and of a much darker colour, be- species, may be doubtecU vet the structure 
mg commonly of an uniform blackish-brow n, ot the lower part of the body seems to imply 
it is usually seen of the length of three or 1 somewhat of a similar contrivance of nature, 
four feet, but is said to arrive at a far larger ; 'The usual length of the carapo is from 1 to 2 
size, specimens occasionally occurring of 6, feet ; but it is sometimes found ©f the ieneth of 
7, or even 10 feet in length, it was first made three feet, and of the weight of more than ten 
kn o a n to tho philosophers of Europe about pounds. It is considered as an esculent lish 
the year 1(371, when its wonderful properties by the South Americans, 
were announced to the French academy by 1 0 r , 
MniK Hif'linr nnp ... „,.*! 7 i o. Ijrymnotus rostratus, or rostrated gym- 
note. In its general aspect this species is 
and travelled from one place to another: 
these were particularly famous for their re- 
medies against barrenness. Some of them, 
likewise, pretended to practise magic, and to 
foretel future events. 
G\ MNOSPERMIA, in botany, from 
i aked, and ^ep^x, seed; the first 
older in Tinmens’ s class of didynamia. It 
comprehends those plants of that'class which 
have naked seeds. The seeds are constantly 
four in number, except in one genus, viz. 
phryma, w hich is monospermous. 
Gh MNOTES, -gym-note, a genus of lishes 
belonging to the apodes. 'I he generic cha- 
rac ter is, head with lateral opercula; tenta- 
cula two on tlie upper lip ; eyes covered by 
the common skin ; gill-membrane five-rayed ; 
body compressed, without dorsal fin (in most 
species), but carinated by a tin beneath. 
r I he* most remarkable species, are : 
T The gymnotus electricus, a native of (lie 
wanner regions ot Africa and America, where 
it inhabits the larger l ivers; and is particular! v 
found in those of Sur.nam. In Africa it is 
Mons. Richer, one of the gentlemen sent out 
by the academy to conduct some mathema- 
tical observations in Cayenne. This account 
however seems to have been received with a 
degree of cautious scepticism by the major 
part of European naturalists ; and it was not 
till towards the middle of the last century 
tmit a full and general conviction appears to 
have taken place; the observations of Mons. 
much allied to the carapo, but is readily dis- 
tinguished by the peculiar form of the head, 
which terminates in a narrow, slight ly com- 
pressed, tubular snout, the jaws appearing in 
a manner connate : the colour of the body is J 
pale reddish-brown, variegated with differ- j 
ently sized spots of a darker colour, and : 
which are much smaller, as well as more nu 
Condamine, Mr. Ingram, Mr. Gravesend, „ 
and others, then conspiring to prove that the ™ erous > on *‘} c ,in than on the other parts : 
power of this animal consists in a species of P ect P ral <ms are round, and rather small 
real electricity, being conducted bv similar I ,ortlie s,ze oi the animal : the eyes are very- 
conducting substances, and intercepted byi? ma l: the scales, it any, are so small as to 
others of an opposite nature. '1 inis on ’ ; not . visible on a general view, 
touching the fish with the fingers, the samel t his species is a native df^Surinam, and seems 
sensation is perceived as on touehimr a char- tp have been first described and figured by 
- ■ - , ■ .. , P . Sena. 
ged phial ; being sometimes felt as tar as the 
elbows ; and if touched by both hands, an 
electric shock is conveyed through the breast 
m the usual manner. Fennin, in particular, 
Seba. 
4. Gymnotus acus, ot* needle gymnote. 
This species is described by Brunnich, in his 
historv of the fish of Marseilles. It is whitish, 
who, during his rostdence in Surinam, had ! "jfh r °ddish and brown spots, which cause a 
frequent opportunities of examining the ani- ; kind of clouded variegation on the back, 
mal, demonstrated by experiment that 14 J while a blueish tinge prevails towards the en- 
slaves, holding each other by the hands, re- j t | er parts : on the back is a kind of projee- 
ceived tfie shock at the same instant*; the i which may be rather considered as a ru- 
fii st touching the fish with a stick, and the '• diinent of a fin than a perfect one : the whole 
last dipping his hand into the water in which animal is of a long, compressed, and attenu- 
it was kept. The experiments of Dr. Ban- 
croft were equally satisfactory (see Elec- 
tricity). It is by this extraordinary faculty 
that the gymnotus supports its existence : the 
smaller fishes and other animals which hap- 
pen to approach it, being instantly 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 exert- 
ing, that it is said to deprive almost entirely 
©1 sense and motion those who are exposed 
ated form, and the mouth is destitute of len- 
tacula. r l his is the only European species of 
gymnote yet discovered, aud is a native ot 
the Mediterranean sea. Beside these there 
are 1 1 other species. 
Gh NANDRIA, from <yvy?*, a woman, and 
avnp, a man, the name of me 20th cla-s in 
Ei imams s sexual system, consisting of plants 
with hermaphrodite flowers, in which the 
stamina are placed upon the style, or, to speak 
more properly, upon a pillar-shaped recepta- 
G Y 11 
clc resembling a style, which rises in the 
middle of the Flower, and bears both the sta- 
mina and pointal ; that is, both the supposed 
organs of generation (see Botany). The 
flowers ot this oass, says Linnaeus, have a 
monstrous appearance ; arising, as he ima- 
gines, from the singular and unusual situation 
of die parts of fructification. 
GT NOPOGON, a genus of the pentan- 
uiid monogjnia class and order. \ he calyx 
is half five-cleft ; corolla five-parted ; stigma 
globular, two-lobed ; berry pedicelled, sub- 
globulai ; seed cartilaginous. 1 here are three 
species, herbs of the South Seas, of no note. 
G\ PSUM. See Lime, sulphat of. 
M hat formerly was* called gypsum, or se- 
lenite, is now known to be a sulphat of lime. 
It is also distinguished by the name of plaister 
stone, &c. 
GYRINUS, or glimmerchaffier, a genus of 
insects of the coleoptera order. The generic 
character is, antennae ciavated, stiff, shorter 
than the head *. eyes (apparently) four, two 
above and tw o below*. 
r l he genus gyrinus is furnished with ex- 
tremely short, stiff antennae, appearing to 
consist of an undivided piece or joint ; but, if 
accurately inspected by means or a magnifier, 
they will be found to be composed of very 
numerous close-set joints : the eyes are so 
placed as to appear double on each s ue the 
head, viz. one above, and the other below 
the base of the antenna:. 
1 he most remarkable European species is 
the gyrinus natator, a small insect, about a 
quarter of an inch in length, of an oval shape, 
w ‘th somewhat sharpened extremities, and of 
a black or grey-black colour, with so lucid a 
suiiace as to shine like a piece of lookmg- 
giass in the full sunshine. It is an inhabitant 
of the waters, and is chiefly found in rivulets, 
being generally seen in great multitudes, and 
in very brisk motion. It is difficult to catch* 
diving with astonishing celerity when dis- 
turbed ; the hinder legs being “very broad 
finely webbed with minute hairs, and most 
curiously formed for exercising the office of 
fuis or oars. The larva is of a highly singu- 
lar aspect, having a very lengthened body, 
furnished, exclusive of six legs on the fore- 
parts, with a great many lateral appendages 
or processes down the body; those towards 
the extremity considerably exceeding the 
re-f. In its motions it is extremely agile, 
swimming in a kind of serpentine manner, 
aud preying on the smaller and weaker wa- 
ter-insects, minute worms, &e. ; the head is 
armed with a pair of forceps, pierced on each 
side the tip with a small foramen, through 
which it sucks the juices of the animals on 
which it preys; the colour of this larva is a 
very pale or whitish brown, with a high de- 
gree of transparency, which renders it a 
very curious object tor the microscope: its 
lengt.i, when full-grown, is about three quar- 
ters ot an inch. When the time of its changes 
arrives, it forms for itself a small oval cell or 
case on a leat ot sedge, or other convenient 
water-plant, and, after casting its skin, be- 
comes a chrysalis : this change usually takes 
place in the month or August, and the com- 
plete insect emerges in that of September. 
\\ hen these animals are congregated to- 
gether in great multitudes on the surface cf 
the water, which frequently happens in hot 
