si >
p. -fpldiers in our regiment, and were Colonel Toiifgebud’s
, greateft favourites, k
<'^&re.-^e£-'leRiFirancmrHft)> Ikhad'an' opportunity of
feeing two very' extraordinary animals o*f tfbe"r aquatic
kind; tbei*5btre -was in. M r«. Roux’s .. cabimetfiff curiofities,
■and is^ ;ClD^'in tlie;®)lbny jacket, in Datin', ranapifcatrix..
This fifh:is‘ about" eight .or) ten anchesklopg,; without
fcalesy; exceeding fat and delicate, as!, I caii teftify by [experience,
and is found in dll narrow creeks and marfhy
places;: But'what lis extremely remarkable is,: th a t. this
creature, however incredible it may appear, abfolutely
changes; to a- perfect frog," but .hot fronliajffog to.a fifhy
as Merian,'f?Zeba, and fome random hiftorians ^ambng
whom I am forry to name Weftley)'have,been pleafed.to
aflert ; and of this truth I was,' at this time fully fiftisfiedf,
by feeing the above animal differed, and fufpended in a
bottle with Spirits4 when the two hinder legskof a very
fmall frog made their appearance, growing -infide from
that part of the back to which ufually the inteftines are
fixed. I neverthelefs humbly prefume to fuppofe, in
this cafe, that the jackee is neither more nor Jels ,than a
kind of tadpole, which grows to a large fize before it
undergoes the ufual transformation.
The other animal I faw at the houfe of my friend
Kennedy: this is. what Dr. Bancroft calls the torporific,.
and others the ele&rical eel, and which Dr. Firmyrn
fuppofes to poffefs the fame qualities with the torpedo..
This;
T his. wonderful animal is of a lead-blue colour, formed C H A-P.
in a great meafure like an eel, with one large fin that . ■ .
runs below from head to tail, not unlike the’ keel of ,a
fhip. _ It lives only in fiefh. .water : its length is called by
fome three feet,, and b y others is aflerted to be not lefs ,
than four or five times, as .much When this animal
is .touched by the hand, or any rod of metal 90 hard
gwqod, itf ^omrap-nicat^a^odk, the impulfe pf which,
produces, the famehffeqia^eietdricifey^^aijd Dr. Firmyn
fyas\gv,en afl^rpd^meyl tnat the fliock of this|pfef5tricd| eel
PbaiS|beepi communicated do him .through the boxes' of
eight;nr^teri;;people, yfho,f Stood, hand in hand for the
,purpqfe pfc,trying; the, experiment.
,Hj.;Fpr jny own part,. alfitliat V.I cdn fay concerning this
animal; that I^fayyat in afiub full of yratefe, where-it
appeared to be about two, f ^ | long; that I thre'ikoff my
coift, and having turned up my fhirt-flepyesn tried; about
twenty different times^tp grafp it with my hand, but all
without pffedt, receiving! juft as many electrical fhocks,
which I. felt even, tp the top of myvihpu|der, to the greaf
enter tain mept of Mr. Kennedy, to whom I loft, a fmall
wager on the occafion. The eleCtrical eel fwims forward
or backward at pleafure, it may, be eaten with the greateft
fafjsty, and is even by many people thought delicious..
ft has been faid,, that this animal muft be touched with
both hands before it gives the fhock, but this I muft
* Mr. Greenwoody of Leicefter Fields,’ has told, me hi’mfelf that he killectone;
©f ■ .eleven feet, y|
8 . " take