142 
ELECTRICAL GYMNOTE. 
smalls so that they can swallow it. When small 
live fishes are thrown into the water, they first give 
them a shock, which kills; or so stupefies them 
that they can swallow then easily and without any 
trouble. If one of these small fishes, after it is 
shocked, and to all appearance dead, be taken out 
of the vessel where the electrical fish is, and put 
into fresh water, it will soon revive again. If a 
larger fish than they can swallow be thrown into 
the water at a time that they are hungry, they 
give him some smart shocks, till he is apparently 
dead, and then endeavour to swallow, or suck him 
in ; but after several attempts, finding he is too 
large, they quit him. Upon the most careful in- 
spection of such fish, I could never see any mark 
of teeth, or the least wound or scratch upon them. 
When the electrical fish are hungry, they are 
pretty keen after their food ; but they are soon 
satisfied, not being able to contain much at a time. 
An electrical fish of three feet and upwards in 
length cannot swallow a small fish above three or 
at most three inches and a half long. I am told 
that the electrical fish is sometimes found in the 
river Surinam upwards of twenty feet in length, 
and that the stroke or shock proves instant death to 
the person who receives it.” 
We are informed that these eels are occasionally 
caught in Guinea, when very young, where they 
preserve them for their amusement, and give them 
earth-worms and cock-roaches for their food. It 
