Animal Electricity

—Several species of creatures inhabiting the water have the power of producing electric discharges by certain portions of their organism. The best known of these are the Torpedo, the Gym not us, and the Silurus, found in the Nile and the Niger. The Electric Ray is provided with an electric organ consisting of lam inæ composed of polygonal cells to the number of 800 or 00, or more, supplied with four large bundles of nerve fibres; the under surface of the fish is —, the upper +. In the Surinam eel, the electric organ goes the whole length of the body along both sides. It is able to give a very severe shock, and is a formidable antagonist when it has attained its full length of 5 or 6 feet.