362 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE,

Eels which he saw ascending the river Findhorn: ‘‘ When
they came to a fall, which they could not possibly ascend,
they wriggled out of the water, and gliding along the rock,
close to the edge, where the stone was constantly wet from the
splashing and. spray of the fall, they made their way up tili
they got above the difficulty, and then again slipping into the
water, continued their course.’’ The eel is voracious, and
will leave the water in search of frogs and other food. It
will attack, and appropriate, young ducks, and one is said to
have been caught near Bootle with two rats in its stomach.
The Conger Eel grows to a great size and attains great weight.
It is said sometimes to measure eight or even ten feet, and to
weigh a hundred pounds or even more. It is plentiful in the
English Channel, and on the coast of Cornwall.
The The Gymnotus is the famous electric eel, and
Gymnotus. like the Torpedo of the English Channel and the
Mediterranean, has the ability of communicating a powerful
electric shock. It belongs to the Amazon and other South
American rivers, and their tributaries, and is well known to
American Indians, Humboldt describes the shock produced
by this creature, as exceeding in strength that of a large Leyden
jar. Having imprudently placed his foot on one just taken
from the water he received such a shock that he says, ‘‘ I was
affected the rest of the day with violent pains in the knees, and
in almost every joint.’’
Catching-the The following vivid description of a Gymnotus
Gymnotus. hunt is given by Humboldt: ‘‘ We at first wished
to make our experiments in the house we inhabited at Cala-.

bozo ; but the dread of the electrical shocks of the gymnotiis . . ~

so exaggerated among the vulgar, that during three days we
could not obtain one, though they are easily: caught, and—
though we had promised the Indians two piastres for every
strong and vigorous fish.

‘Impatient of waiting, and having obtained very uncertain
results from an electrical eel that had been brought to us