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MODE OF CATCHING THE

horses from gaining the bank. The eels, confounded by the hubbub and splashing of the horses, defend themselves by the reiterated discharge of their electric batteries.

For a long time they seem victorious over the horses and mules; everywhere we see the latter, stunned with the frequency and force of the electric shocks, disappearing beneath the water. Some of the horses recover themselves, and, despite the active vigilance of the Indians, gain the bank; overcome by fatigue, and their limbs paralyzed by the power of the electric commotions, they lay outstretched upon the earth.

How I wished that a clever painter could have seized the moment when the scene was at its greatest animation. The groups of Indians surrounding the pools,-the horses, with mane erect, and eyes of fright and pain, struggling to escape from the storm which had surprised them ;—those yellow livid eels, like great aquatic serpents, swimming upon the surface of the water, and pursuing their enemy;—all these objects presented, in truth, a most picturesque ensemble. I remembered the superb painting which represents a horse entering a cavern and scared at the sight of a lion! The expression of terror was not stronger than we witnessed in this unequal conflict.

In less than five minutes, two horses were already drowned. The eel, being more than five feet in length, glides beneath the body of the horse or mule; it then gives a discharge from the whole length of its electric organ. It attacks at the same time the heart, the digestive viscera, and above all the plexus of the gastric nerves. One cannot feel astonished, then, that the effect produced by the fish upon a great quadruped much exceeds that produced on man, which it only touches by one of the extremities. I doubt, however, that the Gymnoti kill the horses immediately; I rather imagine that the latter, stunned by the electric shocks which they receive in rapid succession, fall into a profound lethargy. Deprived of all sensibility, they disappear beneath the water, the other horses and mules pass over their bodies, and a few minutes suffice to make them perish.

After this commencement, I began to fear that this conflict would terminate very tragically. I did not doubt but that I should in a little time see all the mules drowned. We pay, however, only eight francs for each, if the master of it is known. But the Indians assured us that the fishing would soon be over, and that it was only the first assault of the gymnoti that was formidable. In fact, whether it is that the galvanic electricity accumulates during a state of rest, or

GYMNOTUS, OR ELECTRICAL EEL.

79 that the electric organ ceases to perform its functions when fatigued by too long usage, the eels, after a certain time, resemble discharged batteries. Their muscular motions continue equally lively, but they have no longer the power of discharging very energetic shocks. When the conflict had lasted a quarter of an hour, the mules and horses seemed less alarmed; they did not erect the mane, their eye expressed less pain and terror; we saw them no longer fall over. On the other hand the eels, swimming half out of the water, and endeavouring to avoid the horses in place of attacking them, in their turn approached towards the bank. The Indians assured us, that no horse is killed when driven two days afterwards into the pool. These electric fishes require rest and abundant nourishment to produce and to accumulate a great quantity of the galvanic electricity. We know, by the experiments that have been made upon the torpedos (electric rays) of Italy, that on cutting or tying the nerves which go to the electric organs, the functions of these parts cease as the movement of a muscle is suspended, as long as the ligature of the main artery or nerve remains. The organs of the torpedo or gymnotus depend upon the nervous system and the vital functions they are not mere electro-motive apparatuses, which attract from the surrounding bed of water the electricity they have lost. One cannot, therefore, be surprised that the power of the electric shocks of the gymnoti depends upon their health, and consequently upon rest, nourishment, age, and probably a great assemblage of physical and moral conditions.

The eels, making towards the bank, are taken with great facility. Small harpoons, attached to cords, are cast at them; the harpoon sometimes brings up two at a time. By this means they are drawn out of the water without the cord,. which is very dry and of some length, communicating the shock to the person who holds it. In a few minutes five large eels were on dry land. One might have caught twenty, if as many had been wanted for our experiments. Many were only slightly wounded in the tail; others severely in the head. We were enabled to observe the natural electricity of these fishes, modified by the different degrees of the vital force which they enjoyed. I shall describe in this Memoir not only the experiments made, in conjunction with M. Bonpland, on the gymnoti taken in our presence, but also those which we had an opportunity of making upon an eel of an enormous size, which we found in our house on our return from Rastro to Calabozo. This latter had been caught in a net; it had not received any wound. Immediately on being

80

NIGHTINGALES IN RUSSIA.

drawn out of the water, it had been put into the same tray in which it was brought to Calabozo. Remaining thus in the same water it was accustomed to, galvanic electricity had not been altered. We shall see, however, in the course of this Memoir, that the wounded gymnoti, that is to say, those of less power, are much more instructive in the inquiry into galvanic phænomena than the very active gymnoti, for many shades escape the eye of the observer when the electric torrent takes as impetuous a course across good conductors, as across those which are more imperfect.

When one has seen the eels knock down a horse, and deprive it of all sensibility, he is naturally afraid to touch them the moment they are brought out of the water. So strong,

in fact, is this dread among the people of the country, that none of them could muster up resolution to disengage the gymnoti from the cords of the harpoon, or to transport them to the little holes filled with water which we had made along the bank of the Caño de Bera. It needed all our fortitude to receive ourselves the first shocks, which certainly were not very agreeable. The most energetic surpassed in power the most painful electric shocks I ever remembered to have received, accidentally, from a large and completely charged Leyden jar. From that time we readily conceived that, without doubt, there was no exaggeration in the story of the Indians, when they assert that persons who are swimming are drowned when one of these eels attacks them by the leg or the arm. A discharge so violent is fully capable of depriving a man for many minutes of all use of his limbs. If the gymnotus should glide along the belly or the chest, death might even follow instantaneously the electric shock; for, as we have before observed, the most noble parts, as the heart, the gastric system, the coeliac plexus, and all the nerves that depend upon it, would at once be deprived of their irritability. A feeble electricity augments the vital forces,-a strong degree extinguishes them entirely.-l'oyage de Humboldt et Bonpland; Zoologie, p. 54.

NIGHTINGALES IN RUSSIA.

Seeing several stalls apparently covered with wheat, I approached to examine its quality, but was surprised to find that what had the appearance of wheat consisted of large ants eggs, heaped for sale. Near the same stalls were tubs full of pismires, crawling among the eggs, and over the per

sons of those who sold them. Both the eggs and the ants are brought to Moscow as food for nightingales, which are favourite though common birds in Russian houses. They sing, in every respect, as beautifully in cages as in their native woods. We often heard them in the bird-shops warbling with all the fulness and variety of tone which characterizes the nightingale in its natural state."-Dr. Clarke's Travels in Russia.

THE LABIATED BEAR. (Ursus labiatus, Blainville.)

Of all bears the labiated or sloth bear presents the rudest and most shapeless figure. One might suppose that our great countryman Ray had had this species especially under his eye when he characterized the ursine genus. The whole of its body and legs are concealed beneath a coat of long, coarse,

*

"Totum ejus corpus tam denso pilorum crassorum vellere undique obtegitur et occultatur, ut rudis quædam indigestaque moles potius quàm animal membris distinctum esse videatur, ut non injuria à Virgilio informe appelletur."-Synops. Quadruped. p. 171: 1693. Zool. Mag. No. 3.

G

82

THE LABIATED BEAR.

black hair, out of which there projects in front a narrow elongated ill-shapen snout; while beneath this shaggy penthouse four great paws, turned awkwardly inwards, bespeak the quadruped.

Such, at least, is the general appearance of two of this species at present living in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, where, however, both the density and length of the covering may, perhaps, in some measure, be ascribable to the influence of our northern climate. This bear is, however, in its natural haunts, distinguished from all its tropical congeners by its denser coat of hair; and it is doubtless owing to this natural protection that it is enabled to brave our winters with impunity, even when its den is placed in a comparatively unsheltered situation. The hair upon the back of the head and neck is so remarkably developed as to represent a sort of mane, exceeding a foot in length, and almost hiding the ears. The labiated bear differs also from the rest of the genus, in losing, at an early period of its existence, the whole or greater part of the incisor or front teeth; his nostrils are supported by a peculiarly large and moveable cartilaginous plate, by means of which he can open or close their apertures at will, and in this way probably defends the nasal passages from the ants, into whose nests he intrudes his snout. The lips of this species are soft and fleshy, and susceptible of varied and extensive motion, often being elongated in a tubular form three or four inches beyond the jaws. It is from this peculiarity that the commonly adopted trivial name, labiatus, has been derived.

The labiated bear is a native of Hindostan, more especially the mountainous districts. It is common in Bengal, on the mountains of Silhet, and in the Deccan Ghauts. Its first appearance in this country was about fifty years ago. Bewick, in his History of Quadrupeds, has given a characteristic figure and an accurate description of this species; and from the striking correspondence of parts observable between it and the common bear, as well as from an attentive examination of its disposition and manners, he was induced to place it in the same genus, notwithstanding it seemed to differ in some of those characteristics, which have been pointed out by naturalists as the guides to a regular and systematic arrangement. In an earlier and ruder figure, which we find in Caton's Figures of Animals, the good sense of the artist also detected the true relations of this subject, and the animal is called the Petre Bear.

There are few of our readers who, if they were asked if they had ever seen a living sloth, would not answer in the affirma