422 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [voL. 48 
“in ancient days a so-called ‘tisane,’ thickened with the brains of 
the offending fish or the body of the fish itself cut open and applied 
to the wound, were reckoned among the more effective remedies.” 
Even the boys in some parts of the country, however, know better. 
“At Fredrikshavn, it is a favorite pastime of the boys to fish for 
weevers in the harbor, and when they go fishing, they take with them 
a bottle of hartshorn or, still more commonly, of aquafortis, which 
they apply to the wound immediately, if they are stung by a weever.”’ 
Various myths have originated about the weevers and one preva- 
lent for centuries (it is recorded by Willughby) and widespread in 
the British Islands is that “the pain of its sting will last until the 
tide has again arrived at the height at which it stood when the 
wound was inflicted.” This opinion, Allman thought it not un- 
necessary to declare, “is altogether incorrect,” although it “is uni- 
versally believed by the fishermen of the south of Ireland.” Allman 
adds that the weevers and “some other spiny fishes” are “con- 
founded under a common unpronounceable Irish name, which may, 
I believe, be translated ‘sting devil.’ ” 
The weevers are market fishes to a greater or less extent. Smitt 
records that the flesh of the greater weever “ is said to be of excellent 
flevour,” but, nevertheless, on account of its dangerous spines, in 
Sweden “it is generally thrown away by the fishermen.’ Accord- 
ing to Moreau, in France the flesh of the larger kinds is very highly 
esteemed. In some countries there are laws prohibiting the 
marketing of weevers unless their opercula and spinous dorsals are 
cut off. 
APPENDIX 
ON CERTAIN HABITS OF THE EUROPEAN STARGAZER 
By LUIGI FACCIOLA 
Dr. Luigi Facciola, in a long article on some organic charac- 
teristics of Uranoscopus scaber having relation to its hiding instinct,’ 
has given some interesting details of the habits of that species. 
After a few references to previous observers (Oppian, Rondelet, 
Martens), the peculiar form of its stomach (subrotund), and con- 
tents found in it (“ Atherina hepsetus, Engraulis enchrasicholus, 
*Di alcune disposizione organiche dell’ Uranoscopus scaber in rapporti al 
suo istinto insidiatore nota dell Dott. Luigi Facciola. Atti Soc. Nat. Modena, 
Ser. 111, Vol. 1 (anno 16), pp. 17-28, 1883. 
Oa 
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