HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



171 



Pishes," or bis more recent and costly work on 

 Comparative Anatomy. In fig. 88, a marks the 

 inter-maxillary bone, which forms nearly the whole 

 of the border of the upper jaw ; b, the maxillary 

 bone ; c, the mandibular bone, or lower jaw ; d, the 

 cavity for the eye ; e, the inter-parietal bone ; /, the 

 inter-operculum,— " this bone furnishes an attach- 

 ment to the branch of the hyoid bone, at the point 

 where it is itself attached to the styloid, which 

 suspends it on the temporal bone; hence the oper- 

 cular shutters caunot open or close without a cor- 

 responding movement of the hyoidean arches ",: the 

 curved, serrated bone seen immediately above it, is 

 the pre-operculum, to the right of which is the 

 large triangular operculum, with the sub-operculum 

 below it ; these four opercular bones form the 

 framework of the outer gill-covers : g g, the verte- 

 bral column ; h, the pectoral fin ; i, the ventral fin ; 

 Jc, the first, and I the second, dorsal fin; m, the 

 anal fin ; n, the caudal fin. 



The Fishes are the lowest class of the Vertebrate 

 division of the Animal Kingdom ; the construction 

 of their cerebral system and every part of their 

 economy indicates their inferiority to Reptiles, 

 Birds, and Mammals. Their blood is red, but they 

 are " cold-blooded." Every one has heard of Hum- 

 boldt's Volcano-fish found living in water at 210° ; 

 and we have ourselves taken Siluroid fishes from 

 one of the hot springs in Carson Valley, at the foot 

 of the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada, the 

 water of which threw up clouds of steam, and 

 almost scalded the hand ; the temperature of the 

 bodies of these particular examples must of neces- 

 sity have been exceedingly high ; nevertheless, 

 Pishes are essentially " cold-blooded." The sight 

 of some of the freshwater tribes is both quick and 

 keen ; hence the nicest dexterity of manipulation is 

 indispensable in tying a fly for trout. The eyes of 

 the mackerel and of most of the marine genera 

 seem to be equally quick, but far less discriminating ; 

 and we see them captured wholesale with hooks 

 unbaited, but made attractive by clumsy lures of 

 glittering bits of glass or metal, or strips of bright- 

 coloured cloth, or by a tuft of white feathers trail- 

 ing astern of a boat in motion; and it is no 

 uncommon thing for them to take an entirely naked 

 hook as it flashes through the water. The popular 

 notion that they are deaf is altogether erroneous ; 

 their hearing is probably dull, but from the humble 

 auditory apparatus of the lampreys, through an 

 ever ascending gradation of organization up to the 

 sharks and sturgeons, all are provided with a me- 

 chanism of varying degrees of perfection, adapted 

 for the reception and transmission of sonorous 

 vibrations. 



What shall we find in the first haul ? The strain 

 upon our expectant curiosity is almost more than 

 we can endure. "What will there be in the net?" 

 "Do you think there is anything in it by this 



time?" We can't wait any longer; so let us clap 

 on to the trawl-warp and rouse it in. Here come 

 the iron heads ; now get well hold of both ends of 

 the beam while the man takes in the slack of the 



warp; give a one,' 



two, 



: three ! " and in 



comes the heavy framework over the quarter ; 

 gather in the ground-rope ; gently now, with that 

 great conglomerate bolus of fish and shells, and sea- 

 weeds and rubbish, and nobody knows what ;— 

 gather in carefully, and don't tear the meshes ; land 

 the whole concern in the stern-sheets, which are 

 decked over and fitted with " cants,"— i. e., with high 

 sills, to keep the ooze and slush from running all 

 over the place. Cast off the seizing of the cob, 

 and shake out the treasures. 



"Look out, sir ! look out ! here be a Sting-fish ; 

 dont-ee touch un ; mind your hands, sir, he be 

 awful pisen!" Let us follow the mate's advice, 

 and before precipitating ourselves frantically upon 

 that kicking, jumping, flapping, wriggling heap of 

 sea-life before us, let us carefully " eliminate " this 

 innocent-looking, but really dangerous customer — 

 Trachinus vipera, the Lesser Weever, Otter-Pike 

 or Sting-fish. 





m 



.SHE 



1 



Fig. 89. The Lesser Weever {Trachinus vipera), i mat. size. 



He is a a wicked rascal ; he lies still until some- 

 thing comes well within his reach, and then bounds 

 up and strikes furiously, driving the strong, sharp, 

 penetrating spines of that terrible little " first 

 dorsal " deep into the hands of the unwary. The 

 idea that the swelling and inflammation of the arm, 

 that often supervenes after receiving one of his 

 well-delivered hits is produced by " pisen," was for 

 a long time ridiculed. The following footnote to a 

 paper by Dr. Giinther, in "Annals and Magazine of 

 Nat. Hist.," p. 45S, vol. xiv., a.d. 1864, may tend 

 to convince the sceptics that the fishermen are 

 right after all :— " Dr. J. E. Gray has directed my 

 attention to a paper by Mr. Byerly in the proceed- 

 ings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of 

 Liverpool, Nov. 5, 1849, p. 156. In this paper Mr. 

 Byerly demonstrates in the most convincing man- 

 ner, that the double-grooved opercular and dorsal 

 spines of the Weevers are poison- organs. Although 

 the structure of the spines, with their external 

 grooves, were known to previous writers, it is Mr. 

 Byerly's merit to have shown the presence of a 

 cavity within the substance of the spines, which is 

 the proper depository of the poison before its ejec- 

 tion." Here the learned Doctor takes exception to 



I 2 



