i62 THK GREAT WEEVEK,. 



bers after the lapse of several years. The inhabitants 

 of Leso (one of the Danish islands) entertain the singular 

 notion that there is enmity between the great vveever and 

 the gar-fish {Belone vulgaris, Cuv.), and that when the 

 former appear in large shoals on their favourite feeding- 

 gi'ounds, the others are driven away ; and as the gar- 

 fish are a marketable commodity, and the great weever all 

 but valueless, the advent of the latter is by these men 

 looked upon with great disfa\ our. The visual habitat 

 of the great weever is moderately deep water, where the 

 bottom consists of sand, in which it is said this fish at 

 times so buries itself that only the eyes and mouth 

 ajipear, and in this position it preys on such small fish 

 and crustaceans as chance to approach its lurking-place. 



The sharp spines of the first dorsal fin of the great 

 weever are considered by tlie Scandinavian fishermen to 

 be equally poisonous as the fangs of the viper. These 

 men say, moreover, that when this fish is hauled into 

 the boat, it savagely snaps at their naked legs, &c. Uence 

 they greatly fear it, and always use their best endeavours 

 to get rid of it as quickly as possible ; and their fears 

 are not altogether groundless, for the wounds it iufiicts 

 are occasionally most serious,* and instances are not 

 w anting of their proving fatal. The plan of treatment, 



* Doctor Eatzky of Halmstad, in an official report to the Swedisli 

 College of Health, relates the following incident : — " A tall and stout-built 

 fisherman from the parish of Eftra, fifty-five years of age, was brought 

 into the hospital on the 26th August, 1832, having been stung by a great 

 weever in the middle finger, which immediately caused excessive pain. 

 "Within an hour afterwards his arm, head, and chest became swollen, and 

 the man continued to suffer excruciating torture. Difficulty of breathing, 

 palpitation of the heart, headache, and a constant inclination to vomit 

 supervened. Several small pustules appeared on his arm ; anxiety and 

 distress of mind added to his bodily pain ; the wound became very offensive, 

 and gangrenous, &c. &c. The patient was unable to leave the hospital 

 until the 26th September." 



