5 2 
THE ELECTRIC EEL 
of their electric power. The largest of the pair in 
Regent’s Park, about 4^ ft. in length, thick and deep, 
and probably weighing from 16 lbs. to 18 lbs., was 
moving sluggishly on the bottom of the tank, and was 
slowly raised to the surface by a landing-net. As its 
side became visible, its resemblance to a “ cooling 
cast ” was even closer than when seen from above. 
When grasped in the middle of the back, there was 
just time to realize that it had none of the “ lubricity ” 
of the common eel, when the first shock passed up 
the arm with a “ flicker ” identical with that which a 
zig-zag flash of lightning leaves upon the eye, and, as 
it seemed, with equal speed. A second and third felt 
like a blow on the “ funny-bone,” and the hand and 
arm were involuntarily thrown back with a jerk which 
flung the water backwards on the pavement and over 
the keeper who was kindly assisting in the enterprise. 
This slight mishap recalled a far less agreeable result 
of a shock inflicted on a previous inquirer, whose 
recoiling hand had struck the assistant -a severe blow 
in the face. Unwilling to be baffled by a fish less in 
size than the salmon which form the common stock 
of a fishmonger’s window, the writer once more 
endeavoured to hold the eel at any cost of personal 
suffering. But the electric powers were too subtle 
and pervading to be denied. The first muscular 
quiver of the fish was resisted ; but at the second, the 
sense of vibration set up became intolerable, and the 
enforced release was as rapid and uncontrollable as the 
first. The smaller eel was neither so vigorous nor so 
