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Troops of wild horses are driven into the reservoir in which the creature is known to prevail ; immediately the horses are fiercely attacked, receiving a rapid succession of intense electric shocks, by which they are more or less stunned and paralysed, and not unfrequently~ killed ; but the assault has the effect of exhausting the electric eels, and rendering them comparatively inoffensive, so that they are easily captured, either by the net or harpoon. Electric organs. The apparatus by which the gymnotus produces these electric shocks, is extended along the entire length of the back to the tail, and consists of four longitudinal masses composed of a great number of membranous folds, connected by an infinite number of smaller membranes placed transversely to them. The small prismatic cells formed by the combination of these membranes are filled with gelatinous matter, and the whole apparatus is supplied with large nerves. 509 Natural magnets loadstone. prev next |