GYMNOTUS. 
lural liistovy, a genus of fishes of the order 
Apodcs. Generic character : body eel- 
shaped, no pectoral fins ; spiracle single, 
on each side the neck, small, oval, and un- 
covered. There are four species according 
to Gmelin, but Shaw enumerates eleven. The 
G. romana abounds on the Mediterranean 
coasts, and attains nearly to the size of the 
common eel. It is principally found in salt 
water, but will live equally well in fresh. It 
is highly voracious, and preys upon a vast 
variety of smaller animals. It was regarded 
by the Romans as one of the first of delica- 
cies, and the rich and noble frequently kept 
these fishes in large reservoirs, in which 
they were at once fed for the table, and af- 
forded entertainment by the tameness and 
familiarity to which they were easily disci- 
plined. V. Pollio once ordered a slave, 
who had offended him by neglect, in the 
presence of the Emperor, to be cut in 
pieces and given for food to his muraenas, at 
which the Emperor Augustus was so much 
disgusted, that he instantly ordered the 
ponds of this nobleman to be filled up, and 
his slave to be liberated, and was induced to 
spare the life of this tyrant, only from a re- 
gard to an acquaintance ot considerable 
duration. 
GYMNOTUS, the gymnote, in natural 
history, a genus of fishes of the order 
Apodes. Generic character : the head 
with lateral opercula ; two tentacula on 
the upper lip ; eyes covered by the com- 
mon skin ; gill-membrane five-rayed ; bo- 
dy compressed, generally without a dorsal 
fin, but carinated by a fin beneath. There 
are nine species, of which we shall notice G. 
electricus or the electrical gymnote. This 
is generally of the length of three or four 
feet, is of an unpleasant appearance, much 
like a large eel, but thicker in proportion to 
the length, and always of the colour of a 
blackish brown. It has, occasionally, been 
seen of the length of ten feet. It is found 
in the hot climates of Africa and America, 
particularly in the rivers of Surinam and 
Senegal. Towards the close of the 17th 
century, a memoir was presented by M. 
Richer to the French Academy^mnouncing 
his discovery of a very peculiar quality of 
this fish, by which it communicated to the 
person touching it a very sudden and violent 
shock. This statement, however, was con- 
sidered as fabulous for a considerable time, 
and it was not till about the middle of the 
last century that all scepticism on this sub- 
ject, even among learned and scientific 
men, completely vanished, and this very pe- 
culiar property was universally allowed to 
attach to the fish in question. Dr. Garden, 
of Charlestown, in South Carolina, after 
giving an elaborate description of the form 
and structure of this animal, adds, that it 
has the power of giving an electrical shock 
to any person, or to any number of persons 
who join hands together, the extreme person 
on each side toucning the fish. There were 
five of these fishes under his immediate in- 
spection at the above town, all which pos- 
sessed this property in a' high degree, and 
they could communicate- the shock to any 
number of individuals, either by the imme- 
diate touch of the fish by one of them, or 
through the medium of a metalline rod ; 
but when tlieywere first caught this power 
was more fully possessed by them than 
sometime afterwards. He observed that, 
in his own case, the shock was never expe- 
rienced, when the fish was laid hold of by 
him with one hand only ; when it was held 
by both hands at a considerable distance 
apart, he never failed to receive a sensible 
and smart one. Indeed if it he held by one 
hand, and the other hand be immersed in 
the water immediately over the body of the 
fish, the same effect will follow as if the 
fish were held by both hands, and so it will 
be with respect to any number of persons 
joining in a circle, one hand of the person 
at one extremity holding the fish, and the 
person at the other extremity, placing his 
hand in the water over the gymnote. This 
shock is considered as completely electri- 
cal, all the circumstances of it resembling 
those of the eleotricity of the atmosphere. 
It is passed by the same conductors, and 
interrupted by the same electrics. These 
fishes are caught in Surinam river, consi- 
derably above the reach of the sea-water. 
They subsist on fishes, worms, or any ani- 
mal food, which is small enough for them to 
swallow; and when any fish is thrown at 
them, they will immediately communicate 
to it a shock, by which it is stupified. If 
the fish be large, several shocks are requi- 
site* and are applied for this purpose ? and 
many are thus destroyed by the gymnote 
which it is unable to swallow, and after Re- 
peated attempts finds itself obliged to 
abandon. The shock inflicted by these 
creatures on others intended by them for 
prey, is by no means always, nor perhaps 
generally fatal, and many have been speedily 
recovered after being removed into another 
vessel from that in which they received the 
