48S Fishes. 
THE ELECTRICAL EEL. {Gymnotus Electricus.) 
This very remarkable fish is about five or six feet in 
length, and twelve inches in circumference, in the 
thickest part of the bodj' . The head is broad, flat, and 
large ; the mouth wide and destitute of teeth ; the ros- 
trum obtuse and rounded ; the eyes small and of a bluish 
colour ; the back of a darkish brown, the sides grey, and 
the abdomen of a dingy white. Across the body there 
are several annular divisions, or rather ridges of the skin, 
which give the fish the power of contracting or dilating 
itself at pleasure. There is no dorsal fin, and the ventral 
fins are also wanting, as in all the Eels. It is able to 
swim backwards as well as forwards. 
Mr. Bryant mentions an instance of the shock from one 
of these fish being felt through a considerable thickness 
of wood. One morning, while he was standing by, as a 
servant was emptying a tub, in which an Electrical Eel 
was contained, he had lifted it entirely from the ground, 
and was pouring off the water to renew it, when he re- 
ceived a shock so violent as occasioned him to let the 
tub fall. He then called another person to his assist- 
ance, and they lifted up the tub together, each laying 
hold only on the outside. When they were pouring off 
the remainder of the water, they received a shock so 
smart that they were compelled to desist. 
Persons have been knocked down with a stroke. One 
