Angling, dyeing, archery, artillery—where will it end? If it does not stop soon it will get to electricity; and, sure enough, in the gymnotus—a large eel that inhabits the rivers of Brazil and Guiana—we have a creature with an electric battery inside it, with which it can deliver shocks so powerful, that they are capable of killing a man or stunning a horse. I do not know if the alligators that live in the same rivers with it—for instance, the Orinoco—ever attack this eel. It would be an interesting thing to see one do so, but the probability is that the alligator knows what the gymnotus is, and never touches it except by accident. This, however, must sometimes occur, but what the result would be in the case of so sluggish a reptile, I cannot say. Of course, it is only the big eels that give such severe shocks as these. The gymnotus grows to six feet in length, and one of this size must be a more dangerous creature, if one happens to run up against it, than a man-eating tiger or a rogue elephant. Its habits are sluggish, as one might expect, for it has no need to get out of the way of anything, and it is a good deal easier for it to kill its prey by lying still in the mud, and allowing it to touch it, than it would be to pursue a fish, for instance, and rub up against it in the water. To receive the shock it is necessary that the creature, whatever it may be—in most cases, probably, a fish—should touch the eel’s body in two places, for otherwise the electric circuit will not be completed, and there will be no discharge. Merely to poke the eel, therefore, with one finger would do one no harm, whereas to catch hold of a large one might even cause death. Yet in spite of the dangerous power it possesses, the torpedo is eaten by the natives of the countries in which it is found, for it is fat and succulent, and its electric battery, if once it can be got rid of, does not affect its taste, which is excellent. Once caught, this is not a difficult thing to do. It can be cut out, though care must be taken in the way above-mentioned, since the shock can be communicated not only by a direct seizure of the creature, but indirectly through any connecting substance held in the hand. But how are the eels to be caught? The method employed by the Indians is to make them exhaust their batteries by delivering a series of shocks, after which they remain for a long time innocuous, till re-stored with the electric energy. When, therefore, any large shallow pool is discovered, in which gymnoti are likely to be lying—such being often produced by the overflowing of rivers and subsequent withdrawal of their waters—a troop of half-wild horses are collected about it, and then, with cries and blows, urged to enter. A wild and horrible scene of confusion instantly ensues. The alarmed eels dart hither and thither amongst the legs of the horses, discharging their batteries, and the horses, when struck, leap