270 POISON DAGGER OF WEEVER FISH. 



a person is stung, he sliould apply to the part the 

 fish's hrer. There is another impression prevalent, that 

 the pain in its greatest intensity occurs at the same 

 time of the tide as that when the original injury was 

 inflicted. 



As regards the poisonous properties of the spines in 

 the weever fish, my friend Mr. H. Lee has puhlished 

 in Land and Water, August 7, 1870, the following inte- 

 resting remarks : — 



" The dorsal sinnes are not intentionally used by the fish as means 

 of injury or offence. Its most dangerous weapons are the strong, 

 sharp spines at the upj^er part of the gill-covers. They point 

 backward when at rest, but can be directed almost at right angles 

 with the body when the animal desires to use them ; and it is 

 astonishing with what precision it can bring these sj)ikes into 

 action when touched on any part of its body. 



" These spines were formerly supposed capable of conveying 

 poison into the wounds made by them, in the same manner as 

 do the fangs of the venomous snakes. Professor Allman, in the 

 A)in. and 2Iag. Nat. Hist., writes: — 



" ' The spines of the oj)ercula will be found to be deeply grooved 

 along the edges, each groove terminating at the base of the spine 

 in a conical cavity excavated in the posterior edge of the bony j)art 

 of the operculum. In the sides of these excavations the edges of 

 the grooves lose themselves, so that there is a perfect continuity 

 between each groove and the corresi^onding cavity. From the 

 jjosteiior edge of the operculum the integument is continued over 

 the spine to within a very short distance of the point, by which 

 means the spine is enclosed in a complete sheath for nearly its 

 entire length, and tlie groove at each side is converted into a 

 perfect tube, extending from the conical cavity at the base almost 

 to the point of the spine. I have not as j-et been able to detect 

 any specific gland connected with this apparatus. There is, indeed, 

 in each of the conical cavities above-mentioned a small puljjy 

 mass, which may j)0ssibly be of a glandular nature ; but in ascrib- 

 ing to it the property of secreting the virus I do nothing more 

 than hazard a distant conjecture. It seems, indeed, to be chiefly 

 composed of fatty matter. The proi:)erty of secreting the virus 

 may probably with more truth be ascribed to the pulpy sheath of 

 the spine ; but this, too, is nothing more than conjecture. 



