winter, but appear in spring, and bite readily at the hook, which common eels in that neighbourhood will not. They have a larger head, a blunter nose, thicker skin, and less fat than the common sort; neither are they so much esteemed, nor do they often exceed three or four pounds in weight.

Common eels grow to a large size, sometimes so great as to weigh fifteen or twenty pounds, but that is extremely rare. As to instances brought by Dale and others, of these fish increasing to a superior magnitude, we have much reason to suspect them to have been congers, since the enormous fish they describe have all been taken at the mouths of the Thames or Medway.

The cel is the most universal of fish, yet it is scarce ever found in the Danube, though it is very common in the lakes and rivers of Upper Austria.

The Romans held this fish very cheap, probably from its likeness to a snake.

Vos anguilla manet longæ cognata colubræ,
Vernula riparam pinguis torrente cloaca.

JUVENAL, Sat. v.

For you is kept a sink-fed snake-like eel.

On the contrary, the luxurious Sybarites were so fond of these fish, as to exempt from every kind of tribute the persons who sold them.

SECTION II.

[Pennant.

Sword-Fish.

Xiphias Gladius.-LINN.

THIS is a native of the Mediterranean, and is mostly found in the Sicilian sea; grows to a very large size, sometimes measuring twenty feet in length; and is of an active and predacious disposition, feeding on the smaller kind of fishes, which it kills by piercing with its sword-shaped snout. The body is long, round, and gradually tapers towards the tail: the head flattish, the mouth

wide, both jaws ending in a point, but the upper stretched to a great distance beyond the lower: this part, which is commonly called the sword, is flattish above and beneath, and sharp on the sides: it is of a bony substance, covered by a strong skin or epidermis: down the middle of the upper part runs an impressed line or furrow, and three similar ones on the lower surface: the tongue is free, or unconnected with the palate, and is of a strong texture, and in the throat are certain rough bones: the nostrils are double, and seated near the eyes, which are moderately large and protuberant: the body is covered by a thin skin, having a thick fatty membrane lying beneath the lateral line is placed near the back, and is formed of a series of longish black specks: the dorsal fin is very high at its commencement, and sinking suddenly, becomes very shallow, and is continued to within a small distance from the tail, terminating in an elevated process the vent-fin is placed nearly opposite this part beneath, and is moderately small, and much wider at each extremity than at its middle: the pectoral fins are rather small, and of a lanceolate shape: the tail is large and crescentshaped; and on each side the body, immediately before the tail, is a strong finny prominence or appendage. The general colour of the sword-fish is brown, accompanied by a deep steel-blue cast on the head and upper parts, and silvery white on the sides and abdomen.

Mr. Pennant observes, that the ancient method of taking the sword-fish, particularly described by Strabo, agrees exactly with that practised by the moderns at the present day. A man ascends one of the cliffs that overhang the sea, and as soon as he spies the fish, gives notice, either by his voice, or by signs, of the course it takes. Another person, stationed in a boat, climbs up the mast, and, on seeing the fish, directs the rowers to it. As soon as he thinks they have got within reach, he descends, and taking a spear in his hand, strikes it into the fish; which, after wearying itself with its agitations, is seized and drawn into the boat. It is much esteemed by the Sicilians, who cut it in pieces and salt it: this process was anciently performed, particularly at the town of Thurii, in the bay of Tarentum; and hence the fish was called Tomus Thurianus *.

Plin. l. 32. c. 11.

The sword-fish is occasionally found not only in the Mediterranean but in the Northern seas, and sometimes in the Pacific: it is probable, however, that it has been often confounded with a different species more common in that ocean.

This fish is bold and active, and in one instance was known to attack an East Indiaman, which he would certainly have sunk, by driving his long serrated snout or sword through its hulk, but that he killed himself by the violence of his attack; in consequence of which the sword remained in the timbers of the ship, and no leak of any consequence ensued. A piece of the hulk, with a part of the fish's sword imbedded in it, was presented to the British Museum, and may still be seen there as an object of curiosity. [Pennant. Shaw. Editor.

SECTION III.

Electrical Eel, or Gymnote.

Gymnotus electricus.-LINN.

Electrical Torpedo, or Ray.

Raia torpedo.-LINN.

THERE are various fishes which have a power of collecting and discharging small portions of the electric fluid: some a quantity so minute as to be scarcely sensible, like that thrown forth from the hair of the cat's back, to the hand that touches it: but others in a quantity so considerable, as to produce exhaustion and numbness of the nerves exposed to its action, or even a shock equal to that of a large Leyden phial.

Of this last kind the two most celebrated are those which we have enumerated at the head of the section; and which, though in the artificial system of Linnæus belonging to different orders, we shall here contemplate simultaneously.

The TORPEDO has been celebrated both by ancients and moderns for its wonderful faculty of causing a sudden numbness, or painful sensation, in the limbs of those who touch or handle it. This power the ancients, unacquainted with the theory of electricity,