THE ELECTRIC EEL 
53 
resentful as its fellow. But though the first and 
second shocks did not compel the grasp to relax, a 
third was equally intolerable with that given by the 
larger fish. The electrical power seems to increase 
rapidly in the heavier eels. One of 5 ft. in length, 
which appeared to be nearly dead when it arrived at 
the Gardens, and was therefore handled without 
ceremony, inflicted a shock which, as the keeper 
stated, “ nearly sent him on his back ; ” and the same 
fish, when being carried by hand in a tub up to the 
rooms of the Royal Society, sent a shock through the 
water which nearly caused the downfall of fish and 
bucket alike. This power of projecting its electric 
discharge, either through the water or by means of 
any conductor, to the object which it desires to 
paralyze, may be well observed at the Zoo. The 
usual way in which the shocks are received is by 
grasping a copper-rod, which is placed in contact with 
the fish’s back. But it is when in pursuit of the 
small fish which form its food that the “ range ” of 
the eel’s battery is best seen. On the last occasion on 
which the writer was present at the eel’s feeding-hour, 
eight or ten lively gudgeon were taken from a pail, 
and placed in the eel’s tank. The small fish at once 
dived to the bottom, as is their habit, and sought 
refuge in the corners, or at the angle made by the 
meeting of the base and sides of the stone cistern. 
Every one of the fish was killed by electric shock 
before being eaten ; but in the case of those in the 
corners, it was impossible for the fish to bring the 
