HABITS OF THE ELECTRIC EEL. 
121 
fchey had been made to fast a long time, they killed small 
kshes put into the tnb. They acted from a distance ; that 
18 say, their electrical shock passed through a very thick 
stratum of water. "We need not be surprised that what was 
observed in Sweden, on a single gymnotus only, we could 
not perceive in a great number of individuals in their native 
Country. The electric action of animals being a vital action, 
and subject to their will, it does not depend solely on their 
state of health and vigour. A gymnotus that has been 
-tept a long time in captivity, accustoms itself to the im- 
prisonment to which is is reduced; it resumes by degrees 
be same habits in the tub, which it had in the rivers and 
jnarsbes. An electrical eel was brought to me at Calabozo: 
had been taken in a net, and consequently having no 
'found. It ate meat, and terribly frightened the little tor- 
oises and frogs which, not aware of their danger, placed 
hemselves on its back. The frogs did not receive the stroke 
bl the moment when they touched the body of the 
gymnotus. When they recovered, they leaped out of the 
) ! and when replaced near the fish, they were frightened 
? the mere sight of it. We then observed nothing that 
dicated an action at a distance ; but our gymnotus, recently 
a ken, was not yet sufficiently tame to atfack and devour 
r °gs. On approaching the finger, or the metallic points, 
® r y close to the electric organs, no shock was felt. Perhaps 
be animal did not perceive the proximity of a foreign body ; 
0r > if it did, we must suppose that in tho commencement of 
s captivity, timidity prevented it from darting forth its 
j** er g e tic strokes except when strongly irritated by an 
p Mediate contact. The gymnotus being immersed in water, 
Vtv, aCe< ^ m y band, both armed and unarmed with metal, 
bin a very small distance from the electric organs; yet 
irrH- at:rata water transmitted no shock, while M. Bonpland 
tated the animal strongly by an immediate contact, and 
e j ect ater > more or less thick according to the distance, opposed to the 
dire t"?' ^ current - When very much pressed by hunger, it sometimes 
, ed the shocks against the person who daily brought its food of 
0 f i, . me at. Persons afflicted with rheumatism came to touch it in hopes 
Wer * 1 . n § c Med. They took it at once by the neck and tail : the shocks 
nl mo this case stronger than when touched with one hand only. It 
entirely lost its eLectrical power a short time before its death.’ 
