REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
July, 1889. 
17 2 
day. And even a baby torpedo, no bigger than kalf-a-crown, gave him 
(Mr. Gotcli) such a shock on the hand that he was obliged to drop it. 
Speaking of the uses of this electric power, he believed that in all 
three fishes it was used for defence, and in at least the two fresh-water 
kinds for offence also. Salt water was a hundred times a better con¬ 
ductor of electricity than fresh water. Consequently a shock was 
sooner dissipated in it, and so would be felt less by an animal at a 
little distance, while in fresh water the shock would travel further, and 
so be felt more by surrounding fishes. The torpedo gave a very severe 
shock to anything in contact with it; but the electric eel could shock 
things at a little distance quite as severely. And so the power of the 
torpedo, while quite as useful for defence as that of the fresh-water eel, 
would not serve so well for offensive purposes. That the eel does 
use its power for attack, he knew, because he had seen the one 
at the Zoological Gardens feed in this way. By putting its nose to its 
tail it completed the circuit, and sent a shock through the water, 
temporarily paralysing all the sticklebacks in the tank. Then (it was 
a very sluggish fish) it eat as many as it wanted, while the others 
gradually recovered and were ready for its next meal. Mr. Gotch 
concluded by relating an amusing story of the way in which the 
electric barbel feeds. One of these and a fish which was non-electric 
were kept in the same tank. The non-electric fish had an enormous 
appetite for worms and other things, but the electric barbel would 
never touch even a wormlet, yet it seemed in good health and condition. 
Observation revealed the fact that the non-electric fish ate for two. 
Always after a full meal the barbel would swim gently over him, and 
whisk his barbels and antennae against him, thus effecting an electric 
discharge. The non-electric fish straightway disgorged his worms, 
which the electrician immediately ate. One day, alas, he shocked his 
friend too much, so that he died of it, and the electric barbel, being 
unable or unwilling to eat fresh worms, soon pined away and died too. 
Mr. G. C. Druce showed fresh specimens of the bird’s nest orchis and 
the small helleborine, both found in the neighbourhood, and Mr. M. S. 
Pembrey exhibited a “ thrush’s anvil ” ( i.e ., the stone on which the 
bird cracked his snails), and some of the broken snail shells.—Tuesday, 
June 4th. Excursion to Stanton Harcourt. Nineteen members and 
friends drove through Cumnor to Bablock Hythe Ferry, where a little 
botany and ornithology was done. At Stanton Harcourt they saw 
Mr. Arnatt’s collection of birds, and went over the old Harcourt House, 
i.e., the Church, Pope’s Tower, and the Abbey Kitchen. On the way 
home some dozens of the Painted Lady butterfly were seen flying in 
the sunshine, just before sunset, like moths.—Tuesday, June 11th. 
The Rev. J. W. B. Bell, vice-president, in the chair. There were two 
lectures this evening—one by Professor J. Westwood, M. A., on “ Sting¬ 
less Bees and Irregularly-shaped Honey Pots,” and the second by Mr. 
O. H. Latter, on the “Life History of the River Mussel.” Professor 
Westwood described these curious little bees from Borneo, and showed 
the peculiarities of their honeycombs. Mr. Latter gave the results of 
his observations as far as he had at present worked out the life history 
of the mussel. Although he could not yet give the complete cycle, he 
related some very curious facts concerning the development of the 
embryos and the structure of the gill plates, which are used not for 
breathing only, but also in the shelter of the young. This meeting 
concludes the series of indoor meetings for the season. 
Erratum. 
Page 135, line 11, “Quarterly Review” should be “British 
Quarterly Review.” 
