a) 
418 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [voL. 48 
pod]; an isopod—£urydice achata—was also found in one, and in 
another the remains of a small Clupeoid. The specimens taken in 
September and January contained nothing that could be distin- 
guished. The nine specimens from Collieston collected on July 5, 
1900, had apparently been feeding largely on Schizopods, all of 
which appeared to belong to the one species, Schistomysis spiritus ; 
the only other food observed consisted of the remains of a small 
fish, probably a young Clupeoid or sand-eel. . . . A considerable 
number of these specimens were examined besides the nine specially 
referred to here, but they all appeared to have been feeding on the 
same species of Schizopod.” 
According to Schmidtlein, a weever possesses, in the erectile 
spines of the dorsal, a weapon not to be despised; these spines are 
as stiff and pointed as needles, and are bristled up on the least dis- 
turbance of the fish. The edge of each opercle is also armed with 
a similar spine, the punctures of which are generally considered 
poisonous, wherefore the fishermen handle the otherwise valued 
fishes with great caution. 
The opercular spines are not merely defensive but efficient offen- 
sive weapons, for they can be actively struck in some desired direc- 
tion. Jonathan Couch (1863) aptly remarked that “the precision 
and skill with which the formidable spine of the” opercle, “is thus 
directed to an object of fear that shall touch it or approach too 
closely are indeed surprising, so that by a sudden and rapid impulse 
it will inflict a wound if even the touch is confined to the tail, and 
that too, without any injury to itself: and formidable indeed is the 
effect produced by the puncture.” 
The extent to which the weevers use their spines against other 
fishes is unknown. The fishermen of old apparently thought they 
were very aggressive and impressed the other fishes by the fact, if 
we may believe Ovid, who sang of the 
“Weevers, whose march the timorous shoals obey, 
Divide their ranks, and humbly give the way.” 
This, however, is undoubtedly “ poetical license.” It is, however, 
certain that wounds inflicted by the opercular spines of weevers 
upon fishes and batrachians may result in speedy death as was 
proved by the experiments of L. Gressin (1884) and A. Briot 
(1903). 
There appears to be considerable difference between the effects 
of wounds made by the dorsal and opercular spines. According to 
A. Briot (1903) wounds inflicted by the dorsal spines, although 
